| verb | leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch “The mother deserted her children” |
| verb | desert (a cause, a country or an army), often in order to join the opposing cause, country, or army “If soldiers deserted Hitler's army, they were shot” |
| verb | leave behind “the students deserted the campus after the end of exam period” |
| adjective | forsaken by owner or inhabitants “weed-grown yard of an abandoned farmhouse” |
| abandonment | noun | withdrawing support or help despite allegiance or responsibility |
| forsaking | noun | the act of forsaking |
| desolation | noun | sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned |
| desertion | noun | withdrawing support or help despite allegiance or responsibility |
| deserter | noun | a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc. |
| defection | noun | the state of having rejected your religious beliefs or your political party or a cause (often in favor of opposing beliefs or causes) |
| defector | noun | a person who abandons their duty (as on a military post) |
| derelict | noun | a ship abandoned on the high seas |