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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Desertion \De*ser"tion\ (d[-e]*z[~e]r"sh[u^]n), noun [L. desertio: cf. F. d['e]sertion.]
1. The act of deserting or forsaking; abandonment of a service, a cause, a party, a friend, or any post of duty; the quitting of one's duties willfully and without right; esp., an absconding from military or naval service.
Such a resignation would have seemed to his superior a desertion or a reproach. --Bancroft.
2. The state of being forsaken; desolation; as, the king in his desertion.
3. Abandonment by God; spiritual despondency.
The spiritual agonies of a soul under desertion. --South.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
desertion
noun
1: withdrawing support or help despite allegiance or responsibility; "his abandonment of his wife and children left them penniless" [syn: {abandonment}, {defection}]
2: the act of giving something up [syn: {abandonment}, {forsaking}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
59 Moby Thesaurus words for "desertion": AWOL, French leave, abandonment, absence without leave, absquatulation, apostasy, atheism, backsliding, betrayal, bolt, breakaway, crossing-over, decampment, defection, defenselessness, degeneration, dereliction, deserter, desolation, disappearance, disappearing act, disloyalty, elopement, exit, faithlessness, fall from grace, fatherlessness, flight, forlornness, fugitation, going over, hasty retreat, hegira, helplessness, homelessness, impiety, impiousness, irreligion, irreverence, kithlessness, lapse, lapse from grace, motherlessness, quick exit, ratting, recidivation, recidivism, recreancy, renunciation, running away, schism, scramming, secession, skedaddle, skedaddling, treason, turning traitor, undutifulness, walkout
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |