Desertion1. (n.) 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.
2. (n.) The state of being forsaken; desolation; as, the king in his desertion.
3. (n.) Abandonment by God; spiritual despondency.
Thesaurus Entries
AWOL, French leave, abandonment, absence without leave, absquatulation, apostasy, atheism, backsliding, betrayal, bolt, breakaway, crossing-over, decampment, defection, defenselessness, degeneration, dereliction, deserter, desolation, disappearance, disappearing act, disloyalty, elopement, exit, faithlessness, fall from grace, fatherlessness, flight, forlornness, fugitation, going over, hasty retreat, hegira, helplessness, homelessness, impiety, impiousness, irreligion, irreverence, kithlessness, lapse, lapse from grace, motherlessness, quick exit, ratting, recidivation, recidivism, recreancy, renunciation, running away, schism, scramming, secession, skedaddle, skedaddling, treason, turning traitor, undutifulness, walkout