defected
Americanadjective
-
having deserted a country, cause, etc., especially in order to adopt another.
In the movie White Nights, a defected Soviet dancer is returned to his motherland when the plane he’s on is forced to land in Russia.
verb
Etymology
Origin of defected
First recorded in 1585–95; defect + -ed 2 ( def. ) for the adjective senses; defect + -ed 1 ( def. ) for the verb sense
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Kendall had been a key backer of Democrat Andrew Jackson in the 1828 election, having defected from Henry Clay’s Whigs.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2026
Barret Zoph, the Thinking Machines Lab co-founder who abruptly defected to OpenAI this year amid a dispute with Chief Executive Mira Murati, has changed employers again.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Arabs within the SDF's ranks also defected en masse after Sharaa's army took control of two previously Kurdish-held provinces, Raqa and Deir Ezzor, leaving them at half their strength, according to Syria specialist Fabrice Balanche.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
"Knowing wouldn't have meant anything to me back then. So I paid more attention to the lyrics," says the 25-year-old who defected in 2019.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Later, Celia would learn with sadness that the girl had defected while on tour in Oaxaca and was playing a psychotic housewife on a popular Mexican novela.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
