as in to desert
to leave (a cause or party) often in order to take up another
soldiers defected from the rebel army en masse as the failure of their cause became apparent
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defect (from)
Verb
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Produced by Yann Zenou (YZE) and Nicolas Duval Adassovsky (ADNP/QUAD), the film stars Poelvoorde as Jean Chevalin, a bumbling trickster who accidentally deserts the army in 1940s France and must protect his family from the advancing Nazi threat.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
5 Nov. 2025 -
Cuomo and his panicky allies need the pollsters to be wrong again; maybe with a surge of older voters, maybe if Republican Curtis Sliwa’s supporters desert him.—
David Weigel,
semafor.com,
3 Nov. 2025
Verb
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His car was later found abandoned, and authorities began searching the area.—
Ryan Canfield,
FOXNews.com,
7 Nov. 2025
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To garrison those vulnerable treasure houses, Britain had to reassign regiments from tours of duty in North America and abandon Philadelphia, the biggest prize the redcoats had taken so far.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
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And the British nations, as ever, remained aloof, England rejecting a late offer to step in for Austria.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Nov. 2025
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Democrats are pushing to extend soon-to-expire health care tax credits and reverse earlier Medicaid cuts, but Republicans have rejected those proposals.—
Aliss Higham,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Trump has repeatedly threatened to cut off federal funding to New York City — and even take control of it — if Mamdani won.—
Gabe Whisnant,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
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When the government cut off SNAP payments to poor families, a small restaurant-owner in Owensboro stepped in to give people free food.—
Ray Padilla,
Louisville Courier Journal,
4 Nov. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Defect (from).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defect%20%28from%29. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.
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