defect (from)

verb

di-ˈfekt How to pronounce defect (from) (audio)
Definition of defect (from)next
as in to desert
to leave (a cause or party) often in order to take up another soldiers defected from the rebel army en masse as the failure of their cause became apparent

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for defect (from)
  1. desert
  2. abandon
  3. reject
  4. cut off
Verb
  • The Greek Orthodox church was deserted, too, as was its cobblestone courtyard, where my father and his sister had raced each other on their blue bicycles.
    Youmna Melhem Chamieh, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
  • Last month, an entire regiment of more than 1,000 troops deserted the Russian army, according to reports.
    Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 16 Dec. 2024
Definition of desert
Verb
  • But after no prime number appeared through = 10, the project was abandoned.
    Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 17 Jan. 2025
  • It had been abandoned but the girl, Blessing Aoci, was nowhere to be found.
    Mitchell Willetts, Kansas City Star, 17 Jan. 2025
Definition of abandon
Verb
  • While the Obama administration rejected Cheney’s outsized role for itself, Joe Biden still became a close adviser and helped achieve administration goals.
    Roy Brownell, Baltimore Sun, 18 Jan. 2025
  • Greens, blues, and reds remain masculine while rejecting the conventions of more conservative styles.
    Ian Malone, Vogue, 18 Jan. 2025
Definition of reject
Verb
  • TikTok and content creators on the app argued the ban violates their First Amendment rights by cutting off all speech on the platform, while the federal government argued the ban is necessary for national security, given ByteDance’s Chinese ownership.
    Alison Durkee, Forbes, 17 Jan. 2025
  • Kira Weibel was in eighth grade when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the student’s Altadena charter school, cutting off critical community connections.
    Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times, 16 Jan. 2025
Definition of cut off
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near defect (from)

defected (from)

defect (from)

defecting

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Defect (from).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defect%20%28from%29. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See All

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Using Bullet Points ( • )

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

More Commonly Misspelled Words
See All

Popular in Wordplay

See All

Top 12 Sophisticated Compliments

Word of the Year 2024 | Polarization

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)
See All

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
white rubber duck stands out in a row of yellow ducks
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.