draft dodger

American  

noun

draft dodgers plural

1. a person who evades or attempts to evade compulsory military service.

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draft dodger British  

noun

1. one who evades compulsory military service

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draft dodger Cultural  

1. 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.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• draft dodgers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of draft dodger

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

draft dodger

Moreover, as Risen documents, it established this son of a wealthy Civil War draft dodger as the embodiment of America’s emergence as a world power.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 18, 2019

Arnold Hudson said that as a black man from South Los Angeles, he saw no future as a convicted draft dodger.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2018

The term "draft dodger" lingers, but it became popular during WW II when there were, literally, able bodied men who hid out.

From New York Times ● Oct. 17, 2017

In 2013, he wrote on his blog that had begun his life as “a draft dodger and anti-war activist” while his classmates “walked off that stage and stepped directly into the Vietnam War.”

From Washington Times ● Mar. 5, 2016

After calling in sick, he hopped into his newly purchased car and drove off to meet his friend Bill Wernecke, a fervent Nazi supporter and an expert draft dodger.

From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple

Related Words

• absentee