renegade
REN-ih-gaydnounMeaning a person who deserts a group or cause, or who breaks the rules
Memory hook RENE-GADE: RAN from the GATE. In the night, Sir Dev slips out through the castle gate and runs to join the outlaws in the woods; he is a renegade.
The renegade knight left the king’s army and joined the outlaws in the forest.
In context Once the team’s star, he became a renegade in the fans’ eyes when he quit in the middle of the season to play for their fiercest rival.
Similar deserter, traitor, turncoat, outlaw
Opposite loyalist, follower
From Spanish renegado, from Medieval Latin renegatus (one who has denied): re- + negare (to deny).