to defect
- verb
- /dɪˈfɛkt/
- The soldier decided to defect to the enemy side after feeling unappreciated in his own unit.
- an incentive to defect
- defect to another party
- defect to the opposition
There are string theorists who have defected, like Dan Friedan.
- There are string theorists who have defected, like Dan Friedan.
- And as well as Tom Rita, Ora's defected to The X Factor.
- And people are free to defect and fork if there's an aspect they don't like.
- He doesn't stay there that long, not because he doesn't like Sparta, but because he gets himself in trouble and then he defects to the Persians.
- Look, Solly defected to the KGB, pop off defected to the CIA.
- There was an incident in which Hussein Camel and Saddam Camel became so frightened of Uday, they decided to defect to Jordan.
- I watched a horrifying documentary called Utopia about the this just pastor in South Korea who helps people defect, and it's.
- Like they couldn't know that the stories of Army units ready to defect or that the Navy Division was rushing to support them were just not true.
- Something on the Hudson with Robin Williams where he plays like a Russian guy that that defects.
Examples
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Factional leaders within the party defected and allied themselves with opposition parties.
Academic text (1997) -
He and his wife, Duki, defected from Uzbekistan about two years ago.
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His strategy is to get the allies of Italy to defect from Rome and to join him.
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And then, as if they were waiting in the wings, five more tribes came forward, ready to defect on similar terms.
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With their general dead, they might just walk away or even worse, defect to Antony.
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This is a man who has defected once already.
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Some of my men have recently defected to him.
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We are both defecting to Russia.
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Some crusaders began to defect, abandoning the cause to return home.
Academic text (1991) -
Pay was a constant problem, and men who weren't paid often defected, including in the middle of a battle.
Synonyms
To leave people or a place when you are needed
To leave an organization and form a separate group
To leave a group and form a smaller, separate one often after disagreement
Leave one team or group to join another
Compounds
- Specialized
A health problem from a change in someone's genes often passed from parents
- Specialized
A heart problem present at birth that changes the heart's shape or how it works
- Specialized
A hole in the wall between the left and right sides of the heart that you are born with
- Specialized
A hole between the heart's two upper chambers present from birth
- Specialized
A hole in the wall between the heart's lower chambers that lets blood flow between them
- Specialized
A problem that makes someone speak unclearly or have trouble saying words
- Specialized
A genetic condition caused when a child gets two faulty copies of the same gene on a non-sex chromosome
- Specialized
The mass difference between a nucleus inside an atom and the total mass of its protons and neutrons
- Specialized
A mistake in a computer system that looks at images and gives wrong results
How Disloyal
Surface Forms
Etymology
Defect (verb) also comes from the same old Latin deficere, which could mean 'to leave' or 'fail' someone. A helpful way to remember the verb is to think of someone 'failing' their side and leaving to join the other, which is why to defect is to abandon your country or group and go to an opponent.