Usage Note
Déserteur refers to a soldier who abandons their post or flees military duty without authorization. The verb déserter can also be used figuratively for abandoning any commitment. In French military history, desertion (désertion) was punishable by death; the idiom déserter le champ de bataille is used figuratively for giving up a fight.
Examples
"Le déserteur a été arrêté à la frontière."
Natural Translation
The deserter was arrested at the border.
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