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
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
Few people understood this effort better than Ladislav Bittman, a senior propagandist in the Czechoslovakian intelligence service who defected to the West in 1968.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
But last week, the replies were inundated with complaints that Letterboxd had defected to the corporate dark side, along with fearful pleas for the platform’s owners to reconsider.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
The following morning, more than 650 Woodhull supporters—including several dozen women who defected from Anthony’s suffrage convention—showed up at Apollo Hall.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
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.
