as in abandonment
the act of abandoning
the soldiers were imprisoned for desertion of their posts
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Recent Examples of desertion
It has been used to punish mutinies and desertion in armies, as frontier justice in America's Old West and as a tool of terror and political repression in the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
—
Arkansas Online, 12 Apr. 2025
They were charged with desertion of a child and abandonment of an animal.
—Liam Quinn, People.com, 8 Apr. 2025
The true reason of growing desertions lays in low morale and patriotism of recent conscripts who never wanted to defend their homeland and were caught and forced to do that.
—Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 25 Jan. 2025
Large-scale desertions among Russian conscripts might follow.
—Andrew F. Krepinevich, Foreign Affairs, 22 Nov. 2022
See All Example Sentences for desertion
Arkansas Online, 12 Apr. 2025
They were charged with desertion of a child and abandonment of an animal.
—Liam Quinn, People.com, 8 Apr. 2025
The true reason of growing desertions lays in low morale and patriotism of recent conscripts who never wanted to defend their homeland and were caught and forced to do that.
—Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 25 Jan. 2025
Large-scale desertions among Russian conscripts might follow.
—Andrew F. Krepinevich, Foreign Affairs, 22 Nov. 2022
See All Example Sentences for desertion
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desertion
abandonment
Noun
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In some cases, that can be attributed to egregious abandonment or benign neglect.—
Justin Worland,
Time,
10 Oct. 2025
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Former Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo, who was the on-site commander at Robb Elementary School on the day of the shooting, and former school officer Adrian Gonzales, were charged in June 2024 with multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment.—
Megan Forrester,
ABC News,
10 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Desertion.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desertion. Accessed 22 Oct. 2025.
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