Skip to main content
draft evader

draft evader

1 8.8
A person who illegally avoids being sent to serve in the army
  • noun
  • /dræft ɪˈveɪdər/
  • US
translation icon : evadido del reclutamiento
  • After a few years, their enforced exile ended when the Carter administration, in one of its first acts, proclaimed an amnesty for Vietnam-era draft evaders.
  • draft evaders and deserters

Examples

  • Well, he must have been a draft evader because he never registered.

  • (I was ready to go to jail if they drafted me, though now that I'm a lawyer and know how draft evaders are treated in prison, I know Canada would have been the wise choice.)

    Blog text (11)
  • Aside from protecting Macon against federal raiders, these soldiers guarded the government property from the growing numbers of local draft evaders and deserters.

    Academic text (2007)
  • Perhaps thirty to forty thousand draft evaders and deserters—there is no official estimate—did cross the border and begin new lives above the forty-ninth parallel.

    Academic text (2003)
  • During the Vietnam War, many individuals became draft evaders to avoid combat.

  • As a draft evader, he sought refuge in Canada to escape military service.

  • The government pursued legal action against numerous draft evaders who failed to report for duty.

Synonyms

draft dodger
vsdraft evader
  • US
9 7.8

A person who avoids military service illegally

refuses to serve after being called up rather than avoiding conscription beforehand

Antonyms

1.1

A person who serves in an army and fights for their country

Surface Forms

draft evader singular
draft evaders plural

Morphology

draft + evader

The meaning 'a person who illegally avoids compulsory military service' is directly derivable from combining 'draft' (mandatory military service) with 'evader' (someone who avoids a duty). This is a transparent noun+agent pattern common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Draft evader comes from draft (when the government chooses people to join the army) and evader (someone who avoids something); in wars like Vietnam the clear image is of young men burning draft cards, leaving the country, or hiding to 'avoid being forced to join the army', so the term means a person who illegally avoids military service.