deserter

noun

de·​sert·​er di-ˈzər-tər 

plural deserters

: a person who deserts

… the deserter of his father in his last days, betrayer of his brother in his captivity …

—Amy Kelly

especially : a member of a military force who abandons service without leave

a wartime deserter

But now that Anderson has been AWOL for more than 30 days, he is known in the U.S. military as a deserter, facing the possibility of years in jail.

—Daniel Eisenberg

At a prison camp for German army deserters, Herold ordered the execution of more than 100 soldiers.

—Michael Phillips

Synonyms

• apostate
• defector
• recreant
• renegade

Examples of deserter in a Sentence

we had orders to find and capture the deserters before they could reveal our location

Recent Examples on the Web

Rachel knows that William is too good to be a deserter. —Lincee Ray, EW.com, 30 Nov. 2024

Still, the officer harbors no ill will toward deserters. —Samya Kullab and Volodymyr Yurchuk, Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov. 2024

Despite this, the number of deserters continues to rise. —Sarah A. Topol, New York Times, 20 Sep. 2024

Knight, a Mississippi farmer and Confederate deserter, led a rebellion against the Confederacy during the American Civil War. —Travis Bean, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

desert entry 3 + -er entry 2, after Latin dēsertor and French déserteur

First Known Use

1631, in the meaning defined above