Englishdefect2
(stress on the second syllable)
verb
their ruthlessness discouraged army officers from defecting |
one MP defected from the party:
desert, go over to the enemy, change sides/loyalties/allegiances, turn traitor, rebel, renege, abscond, go AWOL, quit, escape;
shift ground, break faith, be apostate, apostatize;
abandon, renounce, repudiate, secede from, revolt against;
informal rat on;
archaic forsake;
rare tergiversate.
defect (2) Oxford Dictionary of English