as in traitor
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 deserter
Its return hearkens back to other periods in American history when firing squads were more common, such as the colonial era and the Civil War, when it was used against deserters.
—
Tim Stelloh, NBC News, 7 Mar. 2025
The dominant plot thread involves a romance between Lucia and Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico), a Sicilian deserter who catches Lucia’s eye.
—Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times, 25 Dec. 2024
There is no place for deserters to go within Syria; most have gone to Turkey, which is difficult given the circumstances.
—Foreign Affairs, 16 Apr. 2012
Members of the Rwandan diaspora are regularly contacted by army deserters asking for help.
—Michela Wrong, Foreign Affairs, 3 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for deserter
Tim Stelloh, NBC News, 7 Mar. 2025
The dominant plot thread involves a romance between Lucia and Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico), a Sicilian deserter who catches Lucia’s eye.
—Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times, 25 Dec. 2024
There is no place for deserters to go within Syria; most have gone to Turkey, which is difficult given the circumstances.
—Foreign Affairs, 16 Apr. 2012
Members of the Rwandan diaspora are regularly contacted by army deserters asking for help.
—Michela Wrong, Foreign Affairs, 3 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for deserter
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deserter
Noun
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Modern American presidents have called their domestic political opponents, or enemies, many things over the years, but never a traitor.—
Peter Lucas,
Boston Herald,
28 July 2025
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In the game, traitors are secretly chosen at the outset while the remaining contestants must work together to unmask them before being eliminated themselves.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
25 June 2025
Noun
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The attackers were members of the Islamist Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a sanctioned rebel group with roots in Uganda.—
Paul Tilsley,
FOXNews.com,
31 July 2025
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth divulged classified information in March from battlefield commanders about the U.S. attack on Houthi rebels in a chat on the commercial messaging app Signal, according to a U.S. official.—
Tom Vanden Brook,
USA Today,
24 July 2025
Noun
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And, of course, my fantasy went right to some kind of renegade character along the lines of Saw Gerrera.—
Dalton Ross,
EW.com,
16 May 2025
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The director Doris Wishman was a renegade: a woman who made lurid exploitation films at a time when American underground cinema was a man’s playground.—
Erik Piepenburg,
New York Times,
2 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deserter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deserter. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
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