as in deserting
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 defecting (from)
Verb
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But Putin was not going to launch a new war against Turkey’s rebel allies just to save a petty dictator whose own soldiers were deserting.—
Robert F. Worth,
The Atlantic,
6 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Kiffin was excoriated by fans and media for abandoning his team, but neither Chambliss nor his family begrudge the coach for leaving.—
Bomani Jones,
Vanity Fair,
29 Apr. 2026
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Musk is accusing ChatGPT’s parent company, OpenAI, and its leaders — CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman — of misleading him and abandoning the company’s original nonprofit mission.—
Alexandra Banner,
CNN Money,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The Celtics also blocked three of the Sixers’ final four shots of the third, with Jordan Walsh, Brown and Vucevic all rejecting layups.—
Zack Cox,
Boston Herald,
25 Apr. 2026
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Jan Jones' embrace of Jackson could be the start of a tide of state House Republicans rejecting the lieutenant governor after years of feeling burned by his attempts to impose his will on the lower chamber.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
23 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The war has closed the Strait of Hormuz, effectively cutting off one-fifth of global oil and LNG supplies.—
Megan Cerullo,
CBS News,
24 Apr. 2026
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The war has inflicted damage on the UAE’s energy infrastructure and blocked oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off a critical stream of dollar income.—
Maria Paula Mijares Torres,
Fortune,
19 Apr. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Defecting (from).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defecting%20%28from%29. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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