Desertion
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The act of deserting.
Example sentence: Panic is a sudden desertion of us, and a going over to the enemy of our imagination.
Abandonment
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The act of abandoning, or the state of being abandoned; total desertion; relinquishment.(Maritime Law): The relinquishment by the insured to the underwriters of what may remain of the property insured after a loss or damage by a peril insured against.(Common Law): The relinquishment of a right, claim or privilege, as to mill site, etc.(Common Law): The voluntary leaving of a person to whom one is bound by a special relation, as a wife, husband or child; desertion.The cessation of service on a particular segment of the lines of a common carrier by railroad.A refusal to receive freight so damaged in transit as to be worthless and render carrier liable for its value.Careless freedom or ease; abandon. - Thomas Carlyle
Example sentence: From that date the abandonment of the older State proceeded with a rapidity never before known, and with it grew the domestic slave trade and the pro-slavery feeling.