noun ·3 syllables ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An act or incidence of defecting. countable, uncountable

   "military defection"

2. 2
   withdrawing support or help despite allegiance or responsibility wordnet
3. 3
   the state of having rejected your religious beliefs for your political party or a cause (often in favor of opposing beliefs or causes) wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

apostasydesertionabandonmentabandonmentabout faceabout-face

Example

More examples

"My government continues to treat dissent as defection."

Etymology

From Latin dēfectiō (stem dēfectiōn-).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.