The act of deserting or forsaking; abandonment of a service, a cause, a party, a friend, or any post of duty; the quitting of one's duties willfully and without right; esp., an absconding from military or naval service. Such a resignation would have seemed to his superior a desertion or a reproach. Bancroft.
The state of being forsaken; desolation; as, the king in his desertion.
Abandonment by God; spiritual despondency. The spiritual agonies of a soul under desertion. South.
98,828 entries. Headwords are matched first, then definition text.