De*ser"tion (?), n. [L. desertio: cf. F. d'esertion.]

1.

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.

2.

The state of being forsaken; desolation; as, the king in his desertion.

3.

Abandonment by God; spiritual despondency.

The spiritual agonies of a soul under desertion. South.

© Webster 1913.