deserting
- 1Present participle and gerund of desert.
He was charged with deserting his post during the night watch.
Deserting the failing venture so abruptly left her partners scrambling.
Note
The -ing form belongs to the verb alone. The noun for barren, arid land and the adjective meaning "abandoned" share the spelling desert, but they play no part here. As a gerund it heads a clause and usually takes an object (deserting his post, deserting a friend). Without an object, as in soldiers kept deserting, it carries the military sense of leaving a unit without permission. Its past tense and past participle are deserted.
deserting is a form of desert
desert, verb: To abandon someone or something that depends on your presence, especially in breach of a promise or obligation. Full entry
- Spelling
- desert → deserting: add -ing
Use it in a sentence
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