draft dodger

See synonyms for draft dodger on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person who evades or attempts to evade compulsory military service.

Origin of draft dodger

1
First recorded in 1935–40

Words Nearby draft dodger

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use draft dodger in a sentence

  • Where writers compared Ali to an "unwashed punk" draft dodger, Lipsyte saw a renegade and comic genius.

    On the Peninsula | Bryan Curtis | April 25, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Eugenia was a woman who somehow managed to stand from under life, anyhow, had been the most successful draft-dodger he knew.

    The Brimming Cup | Dorothy Canfield Fisher
  • The mental draft dodger went to jail just as much as the physical draft dodger.

    Behind the Mirrors | Clinton W. Gilbert

British Dictionary definitions for draft dodger

draft dodger

noun
  1. US one who evades compulsory military service

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for draft dodger

draft dodger

Someone who illegally evades the draft, as opposed to a conscientious objector, who is granted official, legal exemption from military duty. In active protest against United States involvement in the Vietnam War, many Americans publicly burned draft registration cards, risking imprisonment; others fled to other countries, such as Canada.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.