DEFECTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does defection mean? 

• DEFECTION (noun)
  The noun DEFECTION has 2 senses:

1. withdrawing support or help despite allegiance or responsibility

2. the state of having rejected your religious beliefs or your political party or a cause (often in favor of opposing beliefs or causes)

  Familiarity information: DEFECTION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEFECTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Withdrawing support or help despite allegiance or responsibility

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

abandonment; defection; desertion

Context example:

his abandonment of his wife and children left them penniless

Hypernyms ("defection" is a kind of...):

withdrawal (the act of withdrawing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "defection"):

abscondment; decampment (the act of running away secretly (as to avoid arrest))

absence without leave; unauthorized absence (unauthorized military absence)

deviationism (ideological defection from the party line (especially from orthodox communism))

Derivation:

defect (desert (a cause, a country or an army), often in order to join the opposing cause, country, or army)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The state of having rejected your religious beliefs or your political party or a cause (often in favor of opposing beliefs or causes)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

apostasy; defection; renunciation

Hypernyms ("defection" is a kind of...):

rejection (the state of being rejected)

Derivation:

defect (desert (a cause, a country or an army), often in order to join the opposing cause, country, or army)

 Context examples 

Kitty and Lydia take his defection much more to heart than I do.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)