Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Desertion \De*ser"tion\, n. [L. desertio: cf. F. d['e]sertion.]
   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.

Source : WordNet®

desertion
     n 1: withdrawing support or help despite allegiance or
          responsibility; "his abandonment of his wife and
          children left them penniless" [syn: {abandonment}, {defection}]
     2: the act of giving something up [syn: {abandonment}, {forsaking}]