What is "defected"

Usage examples of "defected".

They were seeking deserters from every imaginable army, including the American one, and war criminals not yet apprehended, and lunatics and common criminals, who had simply sauntered from the approaching front lines, and citizens of the Soviet Union, who had defected to the Germans or been captured by them, who would be imprisoned or killed, if they went back home.

During the intifadah, very few Guards defected to the rebels, and it was because the Guard remained cohesive and loyal that Saddam was able to defeat the revolts.

Two Iraqi soccer players who have defected since 1999 have reported that Udayy Saddam routinely had Iraqi athletes beaten and tortured for losing international matches.

Guards defected to the rebels, and it was because the Guard remained cohesive and loyal that Saddam was able to defeat the revolts.

I deciphered a coded memorandum hidden in the private diary of one of the construction workers, who later defected to the West during the purges of the 1930s.