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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But classrooms sat half-empty and the playground was deserted.—
Sam Metz,
Los Angeles Times,
15 Apr. 2026 -
As befits such an environment, his handling of tactile stuff—not just silk and fur but bread and brickwork, too—never deserted him.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The three-block stretch, between 16th and 19th avenues, looks markedly different from just a year ago, when tents, abandoned cars and piles of trash crowded the street and sidewalks.—
Da Lin,
CBS News,
18 Apr. 2026
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What to read next The USSR withdraws troops from the border with Afghanistan, as Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev abandons invasion plans to focus his resources on the Space Race.—
Richard Edwards,
Space.com,
17 Apr. 2026
Verb
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According to a California audit last month which analyzed open network traffic across more than 7,600 popular websites scanned from California, over half (55%) of sites set advertising cookies even after users explicitly rejected them.—
Catherina Gioino,
Fortune,
21 Apr. 2026
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His dwarfism led his mother to reject him, a natural response when something seems wrong.—
Ryan Brennan,
Kansas City Star,
21 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Global supply chains have been impacted by the war since the end of February and the chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off some of the materials used in condom production.—
David Goldman,
CNN Money,
21 Apr. 2026
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The closed Strait of Hormuz, as well as export bans of refined fuel products from countries like China and South Korea, have cut off petrol supplies in Asia.—
Angelica Ang,
Fortune,
21 Apr. 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 23 Apr. 2026.
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