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
-
For the San Diego County deserts west winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts 45 to 55 mph, locally up to 60 near the mountain foothills.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
14 May 2026 -
Succulents are native to desert climates, which can be very hot during the day, and very cold at night.—
Peg Aloi,
The Spruce,
12 May 2026
Verb
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As those commitments are abandoned, there’s a financial price to pay, including more than $9 billion of write-downs for Honda, which made its first operating loss in the company’s history.—
Jonathan M. Gitlin,
ArsTechnica,
15 May 2026
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Famously, many migration projects end up in some sort of failure—behind schedule, over budget, incomplete or abandoned.—
Thomas Berndorfer,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
Verb
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But Breakfield rejected that argument during sentencing.—
Christina Coulter,
PEOPLE,
12 May 2026
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Lower courts likely won't approve a measure that aims to circumvent a Supreme Court ruling and would probably reject any law that ties the provision of general government services to the behaviors of the recipients, Smith said.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
12 May 2026
Verb
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The fact that Iran could so easily cut off the world’s access to a fifth of global oil with some mines, makeshift drones and speed boats will require some serious reckoning – and permanent changes.—
David Goldman,
CNN Money,
12 May 2026
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And nearly all of Iran’s population has been cut off from the internet since the war began.—
Jackie Northam,
NPR,
12 May 2026
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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 17 May. 2026.
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