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
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
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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On Thursday night, it will be determined whether the traitors or the faithfuls will win a £100,000 prize for charity.—
Ellise Shafer,
Variety,
6 Nov. 2025
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The competition show takes place in Scotland and has cast members divided into two groups, traitors and faithfuls, and the faithfuls try to vote off the traitors to win a cash prize.—
Jenni Fink,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
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By providing only air cover for the rebels, our intervention left the situation on the ground to the local competing forces, tribes and militias, which were divided then and remain divided to this day.—
Thomas L. Friedman,
Mercury News,
6 Jan. 2026
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He's accused of running a network that partnered with violent groups including Mexico’s Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, Colombian FARC rebels and Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang.—
Kathryn Palmer,
USA Today,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
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But a few renegades creatively defected across the pond, looking instead at America for inspiration.—
Leah Dolan,
CNN Money,
23 Sep. 2025
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VCs raining money on said brilliant renegades, despite signals that the market wasn’t quite mature enough and money was being lit on fire?—
Cortney Harding,
Forbes.com,
25 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Yet those soldiers and sailors had to stretch across a vast global canvas, leaving fewer than three in ten of them to try to rout the insurgents in North America.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Nov. 2025
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Subsequent reporting showed how Maduro loyalists infiltrated the training camps of the would-be liberators and betrayed their cause, leading to the execution of six leaders and capture of dozens of insurgents.—
Antonio Maria Delgado,
Miami Herald,
7 Nov. 2025
Noun
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The approach extended to the creative process, with extensive consultation with North Korean experts and defectors throughout production.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
25 Sep. 2025
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Two of whom, Seok and Hyuk, gained attention for their emotional story as North Korean defectors-turned-K-pop idols.—
Laura Sirikul,
Forbes.com,
16 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deserters.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deserters. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
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