deserter

noun

de·​sert·​er di-ˈzər-tər 

plural deserters

: a person who deserts

… the deserter of his father in his last days, betrayer of his brother in his captivity …

—Amy Kelly

especially : a member of a military force who abandons service without leave

a wartime deserter

But now that Anderson has been AWOL for more than 30 days, he is known in the U.S. military as a deserter, facing the possibility of years in jail.

—Daniel Eisenberg

At a prison camp for German army deserters, Herold ordered the execution of more than 100 soldiers.

—Michael Phillips

Synonyms

• apostate
• defector
• recreant
• renegade

Examples of deserter in a Sentence

we had orders to find and capture the deserters before they could reveal our location

Recent Examples on the Web

Watch on Netflix Godzilla Minus One Despite the presence of the eponymous kaiju, Godzilla Minus One is a film rooted in the humanity of its protagonists, deserter kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) and Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe), a survivor of the bombings of Tokyo. —Matt Kamen, WIRED, 6 July 2024

Often, the same trafficking networks that are involved in bringing fighters to Russia also help getting deserters out. —Aakash Hassan, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 July 2024

They were referred to as traitors and deserters by PGA Tour supporters and what then seemed like a large, vocal portion of golf fans. —Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel, 18 June 2024

Russian deserters who agree to testify in such hearings should be guaranteed that they will not be extradited to Russia. —Kristina Hook, Foreign Affairs, 28 July 2022

Word History

Etymology

desert entry 3 + -er entry 2, after Latin dēsertor and French déserteur

First Known Use

1631, in the meaning defined above