defect
verb/dɪˈfekt/
/dɪˈfekt/
[intransitive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they defect | /dɪˈfekt/ /dɪˈfekt/ |
| he / she / it defects | /dɪˈfekts/ /dɪˈfekts/ |
| past simple defected | /dɪˈfektɪd/ /dɪˈfektɪd/ |
| past participle defected | /dɪˈfektɪd/ /dɪˈfektɪd/ |
| -ing form defecting | /dɪˈfektɪŋ/ /dɪˈfektɪŋ/ |
- defect (from something) (to something) to leave a political party, country, etc. to join another that is considered to be an enemy
- A number of writers and musicians defected from the Soviet Union to the West in the 1960s.
- She defected from the party just days before the election.
Word Originverb late 16th cent.: from Latin defect- ‘failed’, from the verb deficere ‘desert or fail’, from de- (expressing reversal) + facere ‘do’.Definitions on the go
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defect