desertion
desertion Lexical Profile
desertion Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The action of abandoning a person, cause, organization, or obligation in a disloyal or treacherous manner.
"The sudden desertion of key sponsors forced the theater company to cancel its autumn season."
The unlawful abandonment of a military post or duty without permission and with the intention of not returning, or the willful abandonment of a spouse or family in family law.
"In family law, prolonged willful desertion served as formal legal grounds for the dissolution of the marriage."
The state or condition of being left empty, forsaken, or uninhabited.
"The gradual desertion of the old mining town left rows of boarded-up cottages along the main street."
• Rhymes for desertion
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the mid-15th century from Middle French désertion or directly from Late Latin desertionem, a noun of action from Latin deserere ('to abandon, leave, or sever ties'), formed from de- ('undo') and serere ('to join or bind together').