Definition of defection
: conscious abandonment of allegiance or duty (as to a person, cause, or doctrine) : desertion
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Recent Examples of defection from the Web
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The administration would have to win over more Democrats to counter any Republican defections.
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The novel’s central character, Frank Weeks, a former C.I.A. golden boy, has been living in Moscow with his wife, Joanna, since his defection from the United States in 1949.
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A year after achieving its most sacred ambition, the party long led by [Trump’s] favorite European politician, Nigel Farage, is in disarray, scarred by prominent defections and by vicious feuding — some of it physical — among its remaining members.
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Amid a deep economic recession that has caused shortages of basic food and medicines and the ongoing protests that for now show no sign of dying off, the government could be worried about further defections within its ranks or in the military.
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The defections are in response to the host’s promoting a right-wing theory that Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee staffer, was slain after providing party emails to WikiLeaks.
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So far, the President’s aides are sticking with him—there have been no high-level defections from the Administration.
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In a show full of increasingly wobbly allegiances, Philip’s slow embrace of America is perhaps the most poignant emotional defection yet:
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'defection'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
1546
First Known Use of defection
1546
Learn More about defection
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See words that rhyme with defection Spanish Central: Translation of defection Nglish: Translation of defection for Spanish speakers
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