deserter

[dih-zur-ter]

noun

1. a soldier or draftee who leaves or runs away from service or duty with the intention of never returning.

   Deserters from the rebel army tell of low morale among its remaining fighters.

2. a person who fails to uphold a cause or who abandons someone else, especially in violation of a promise or obligation.

   Some of those remaining in the home country view emigrants living abroad as deserters from their mother culture.

   A family deserter is one who can but will not support a spouse or dependents.

Other Word Forms

• predeserter noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of deserter¹

desert ² ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

The mass demonstration follows a recent crackdown on ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers, with thousands of call-up notices ignored in recent months and several deserters imprisoned.

Read more on Barron's

He has since published videos of torture in Russia’s penitentiary system and collected accounts from prison guards and Russian military deserters who are now giving testimony to international courts.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"It is better for them to pay not to fight than to come here and run away, tripping us up. It doesn't bother me much. If they came here, they'd just scarper… they're deserters."

Read more on BBC

These units are often sent in to battle as the “first wave” and a number of Russian deserters have told the BBC that “troublemakers” who object to the war have been used as “cannon fodder”.

Read more on BBC

But the labor minister, Kim Moon-soo, said not only might that violate national and international law, but it would result in more deserters.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• defector 
• escapee 
• lawbreaker