Meanings
-
1
noun
a member of the armed forces who leaves a post or service without permission and intends not to return
The soldier was arrested as a deserter after crossing the border in civilian clothes.
-
2
noun
a person who abandons a cause, organization, duty, or companion, especially disloyally
Party leaders branded him a deserter after he joined their opponents.
Thesaurus
Etymology
Formed in the seventeenth century from desert ("abandon") + -er, on the pattern of French deserteur. Desert in this sense comes from Latin deserere ("forsake, abandon"); it is historically distinct in pronunciation and meaning from the noun desert for an arid region.