as in traitors
a person who abandons a cause or organization usually without right
we had orders to find and capture the deserters before they could reveal our location
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Recent Examples of deserters
And within his own country’s history, particularly, Dhont discovered the fates that met would-be deserters who were caught — brutal sentences often leading to death.
—
David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 12 May 2026
Harry Truman granted amnesty to certain World War II deserters, while Jimmy Carter granted pardons to hundreds of thousands of individuals who dodged the draft during the Vietnam War.
—Stewart Ulrich, The Conversation, 15 Dec. 2025
More important, though, is the fact that the judge who posited that hordes of deserters could follow Vovchenko’s example seems to be overstepping his role.
—Air Mail, 25 Oct. 2025
Language purists like to remind anyone who will listen that decimation actually means the slaughter of one in ten people, and was the military punishment wielded by the Roman army against deserters and mutineers.
—Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2025
Despite opposition to busing, particularly among White families who comprised much of Louisville's Catholic population, Archbishop McDonough vowed in 1974 that his schools would not become the home of public school deserters.
—Krista Johnson, Louisville Courier Journal, 4 Sep. 2025
David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 12 May 2026
Harry Truman granted amnesty to certain World War II deserters, while Jimmy Carter granted pardons to hundreds of thousands of individuals who dodged the draft during the Vietnam War.
—Stewart Ulrich, The Conversation, 15 Dec. 2025
More important, though, is the fact that the judge who posited that hordes of deserters could follow Vovchenko’s example seems to be overstepping his role.
—Air Mail, 25 Oct. 2025
Language purists like to remind anyone who will listen that decimation actually means the slaughter of one in ten people, and was the military punishment wielded by the Roman army against deserters and mutineers.
—Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2025
Despite opposition to busing, particularly among White families who comprised much of Louisville's Catholic population, Archbishop McDonough vowed in 1974 that his schools would not become the home of public school deserters.
—Krista Johnson, Louisville Courier Journal, 4 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deserters
Noun
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Both groups were accused of being spies, traitors and collaborators, according to the report.—
Sam Metz,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2026
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When news of Israel’s secret outposts in Iraq’s desert emerged, Iraqis admonished their leaders as traitors, and the boisterous militiamen affiliated with the government as impostors for allowing their land to be colonized by an enemy.—
Nabil Salih,
Time,
26 May 2026
Noun
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Cuba’s nationalization wave began soon after Fidel Castro’s rebels took control of the island in 1959.—
Max Saltman,
CNN Money,
4 June 2026
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Gangs, rebels, and soldiers started massacring elephants, sometimes from military helicopters.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
3 June 2026
Noun
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People didn’t come to the series with a working knowledge of the State Department, ready to see what the renegades were like.—
Debora Cahn,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
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The men who once styled themselves renegades increasingly resembled every other hyper-online young guy—gaming, memeing, trading.—
Clara Molot,
Vanity Fair,
17 Mar. 2026
Noun
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After Daft Punk’s rise from underground dance music heroes to chart-topping pop insurgents, Bangalter followed different muses in different directions.—
Andy Battaglia,
ARTnews.com,
8 June 2026
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That legacy includes crushing both hyperinflation and the Maoist insurgents of the Shining Path, who bathed Peru in blood in the 1980s and 1990s.—
Simeon Tegel,
NPR,
6 June 2026
Noun
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Disclosure Day, based on an original story by Spielberg, centers on a decades-long government conspiracy to cover up the existence of alien life, and the group of defectors intent on releasing that intel to the public.—
Brianna Zigler,
Entertainment Weekly,
11 June 2026
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Heck, our homegrown liberal media and the city of San Francisco even celebrated Olympic defectors like Eileen Gu, who was paid by the Chinese Communist Party to compete for them in the 2026 Winter Olympics.—
Jon Root OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
7 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Deserters.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deserters. Accessed 15 Jun. 2026.
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