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
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defect (from)
Verb
-
Fedorov, the new defense minister, acknowledges the scale of the problem, telling the Ukrainian parliament some 2 million people are ignoring their call-up papers, while 200,000 others have deserted.—
Andrew Carey,
CNN Money,
3 Feb. 2026 -
About a third of Californians live in what’s called the wildland-urban-interface, where human settlements overlap with wildlife habitat like forests, mountain foothills or desert open space, Crowfoot said.—
Sharon Bernstein,
Sacbee.com,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
One is that OpenAI’s board has apparently abandoned its mission of safety.—
Alnoor Ebrahim,
The Conversation,
13 Feb. 2026
-
The tech mogul, who helped found OpenAI, sued Altman and the company in 2024, accusing them of abandoning the firm’s founding values and manipulating him into investing in the ChatGPT maker.—
Julia Shapero,
The Hill,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Zelenskyy previously stressed that the timing and format of any elections are matters solely for Ukraine and its citizens, rejecting any suggestion that the Kremlin could dictate the process.—
Ashley Carnahan,
FOXNews.com,
11 Feb. 2026
-
The council also rejected, narrowly, a flat 2% increase suggested by Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez in a 7-8 vote.—
Sandra McDonald,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
This move could cut off some teachers, doctors, and other public workers from federal loan cancellation.—
Dallas Morning News,
Dallas Morning News,
10 Feb. 2026
-
In Germany, for example, women are encouraged to cut off men's ties during festivities, and in Denmark, children dress up and collect candy in a tradition that mirrors Halloween.—
Saman Shafiq,
USA Today,
10 Feb. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Defect (from).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defect%20%28from%29. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
