Abdicate
verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit. obsolete, transitive
- 2 give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations wordnet
- 3 To formally separate oneself from or to divest oneself of. obsolete, reflexive, transitive
- 4 To depose. obsolete, transitive
- 5 To reject; to cast off; to discard. obsolete, transitive
"[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."
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- 6 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. transitive
"to abdicate the throne, the crown, the papacy"
- 7 To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity; to renounce sovereignty. intransitive
"Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"The Emperor Akihito of Japan has announced his intention to abdicate."
Etymology
First attested in 1532; borrowed from Latin abdicātus (“renounced”), perfect passive participle of abdicō (“to renounce, reject, disclaim”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), formed from ab (“away”) + dicō (“proclaim, dedicate, declare”), akin to dīcō (“to say”). Compare Middle English abdicat (“forsaken, renounced”).
Related phrases
More for "abdicate"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.