draft dodger
Avoids military conscription
A draft dodger is someone who evades compulsory military service, especially by fleeing the country, claiming false exemptions, or failing to register.
The term carries strong disapproval from those who view military service as a civic duty: Thousands of draft dodgers fled to Canada during the Vietnam War.
The neutral term is draft evader.
One who abandons duty
- fugitiveOne fleeing authorities
- absconderOne who flees secretly
- exileBanishment from homeland
- refugeePerson fleeing danger abroad
emigrant · expatriate · defector · flee · escape · underground · hideout · clandestine
Anti-violence believer
- objectorOne who formally disagrees
- conscientious objectorOne refusing military service morally
- noncombatantPerson not engaged in warfare
- QuakerSociety of Friends member
Mennonite · Amish · nonviolent · principled · ethical · moral · antimilitarist · alternative service
Capacity to withstand force
- dissentDisagreement with authority
- activismDirect effort for reform
- civil disobediencePeaceful refusal to obey
- antiwarOpposed to armed conflict
protest · defiance · noncompliance · movement · rally · demonstration · Vietnam · SDS
deserter
One who abandons duty
refugee · emigrant · expatriate · defector · flee · escape · underground · hideout · clandestine · Canada
pacifist
Anti-violence believer
- objectorOne who formally disagrees
- conscientious objectorOne refusing military service morally
- noncombatantPerson not engaged in warfare
Quaker · Mennonite · Amish · nonviolent · principled · ethical · moral · antimilitarist · alternative service · religious exemption
resistance
Capacity to withstand force
- dissentDisagreement with authority
- activismDirect effort for reform
- civil disobediencePeaceful refusal to obey
antiwar · protest · defiance · noncompliance · movement · rally · demonstration · Vietnam · SDS · counterculture
- war resistersconscientious objector, pacifist, peace activist, antimilitarist, refusenik
- conscriptionconscription, conscript, conscripts, compulsory service, selective service
- military statusactive duty, enlisted, retired, deployed, veteran
- avoidersevader, shirker, avoider, skulker, escapee
- DesertersAWOL soldier, defector, absconder
- resistersobjector, resister, refusenik, conscientious objector, holdout
draft dodgerdraftee
One conscripted for service
conscript · enlisted soldier · inductee · serviceman · soldier
draft dodgerpatriot
Devoted country supporter
war hero · hero · fallen soldier · national hero · combat veteran
draft, dodge, dodging, drafting, dodged, dodges, draught, drafty, dodger