abdicate
English edit
Etymology edit
From Latin abdicātus (“renounced”), perfect passive participle of abdicō (“renounce, reject, disclaim”), formed from ab (“away”) + dicō (“proclaim, dedicate, declare”), akin to dīcō (“say”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈæb.dɪˌkeɪt/
Audio (CA) (file)
Verb edit
abdicate (third-person singular simple present abdicates, present participle abdicating, simple past and past participle abdicated)
- (transitive, obsolete) To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit. [mid 16th – early 19th c.]
- (transitive, reflexive, obsolete) To formally separate oneself from or to divest oneself of. [mid 16th – late 17th c.]
- (transitive, obsolete) To depose. [early 17th – late 18th c.]
- (transitive, obsolete) To reject; to cast off; to discard. [mid 16th – late 17th c.]
- 1647 June 8 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Hall, “Bishop Hall’s Hard Measure”, in The Shaking of the Olive-Tree. The Remaining Works of that Incomparable Prelate Joseph Hall, D.D. […], London: […] J. Cadwel for J[ohn] Crooke, […], published 1660, →OCLC, page 48:
- [W]e were legally call'd by his Majeſties writ to give our Attendance in Parliament, […] if we did not, we ſhould betray the Truſt committed to us by his Majeſtie, and ſhamefully betray and abdicate the due right both of our ſelves and Succeſſours.
- (transitive) To surrender, renounce or relinquish, as sovereign power; to withdraw definitely from filling or exercising, as a high office, station, dignity; to fail to fulfill responsibility for. [from mid 17th c.]
- to abdicate the throne, the crown, the papacy
- Note: The word abdicate was held to mean, in the case of James II, to abandon without a formal surrender.
- 1776, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:
- The cross-bearers abdicated their service.
- 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:
- He abdicates all right to be his own governor.
- 1856, James Anthony Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth:
- The understanding abdicates its functions.
- 2022, Janet Loveless, Mischa Allen, Caroline Derry, chapter 12, in Complete Criminal Law, 8th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, 12.2.5, page 649:
- Although the 1970s ushered in a culture of relative moral freedom, the courts refused to abdicate their role of custodians of public morality.
- (intransitive) To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity; to renounce sovereignty. [First attested in the early 18th c.]
- 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:
- Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy.
Synonyms edit
synonyms of "abdicate"
Antonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
to disclaim and expel from family — see also disinherit
to formally separate oneself from or to divest oneself of
to depose — see depose
to reject, cast off, discard
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to surrender or relinquish as sovereign power; to withdraw from filling or exercising
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to renounce a throne or other high office
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
References edit
- “abdicate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Italian edit
Verb edit
abdicate
- inflection of abdicare:
Latin edit
Verb edit
abdicāte
Spanish edit
Verb edit
abdicate
- second-person singular voseo imperative of abdicar combined with te