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

• traitor
• rebel
• renegade
• defector

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

But the group also used it as a tool of execution against deserters, inadvertently showcasing the brittleness of a regime that had to use fear to motivate even its mercenary soldiers to stay in the fight. —Nicolas Niarchos, New York Times, 13 May 2025

Meanwhile, Byrd’s wide dramatic palette and flexible voice make the most of thankless roles as the movement’s deserter and Montgomery’s white power brokers. —Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 7 June 2025

Russia is also reported to have forcibly sent hundreds of its military deserters to the front line in Ukraine. —Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Apr. 2025

Its return hearkens back to other periods in American history when firing squads were more common, such as the colonial era and the Civil War, when it was used against deserters. —Tim Stelloh, NBC News, 7 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

1631, in the meaning defined above