defection means an act or incidence of defecting. It carries an Arena rating of 1454, earned across 15 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, defection ranks #2,450 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,810 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #3,643 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #5,370 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.
defection is pronounced /dɪˈfɛkʃən/.
Why “defection” is a great word
The conscious abandonment of a cause, country, party, or allegiance, especially to join an opposing one. From the Latin *dēfectiōn-* (stem of *dēfectiō*), from *dēficere* ("to desert, fail, revolt"), from *dē-* ("away") + *facere* ("to do, make"). First attested in English in the mid-16th century. Unlike "desertion," which implies a breach of sworn duty, or "apostasy," which is a renunciation of belief itself, defection is the concrete act of crossing over. It is the silhouette disappearing across a border at dawn, the hollow chair at a committee meeting, the sudden, dead air on a secure radio frequency—a vacancy that is, in truth, a declaration.
Etymology
From Latin dēfectiō (stem dēfectiōn-).
noun
- An act or incidence of defecting.e.g.“military defection”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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