Adjacent Words

Abdicate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

AB'DICATE, v.t. [L. abdica; ab and dico, to dedicate, to bestow, but the literal primary sense of dico is to send or thrust.]
1. In a general sense, to relinquish, renounce, or abandon.
2. To abandon an office or trust, without a formal resignation to those who conferred it, or without their consent; also to abandon a throne, without a formal surrender of the crown.
3. To relinquish an office before the expiration of the time of service.
4. To reject; to renounce; to abandon as a right.
5. To cast away; to renounce; as to abdicate our mental faculties [Unusual.]
6. In the civil law, to disclaim a son and expel him from the family, as a father; to disinherit during the life of the father.
AB'DICATE, v.i. To renounce; to abandon; to cast off; to relinquish, as a right, power, or trust.
Though a King may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations; "The King abdicated when he married a divorcee" [syn: abdicate, renounce]

Merriam Webster's

verb (-cated; -cating) Etymology: Latin abdicatus, past participle of abdicare, from ab- + dicare to proclaim — more at diction Date: 1541 transitive verb 1. to cast off ; discard 2. to relinquish (as sovereign power) formally intransitive verb to renounce a throne, high office, dignity, or function • abdicable adjective • abdication noun • abdicator noun Synonyms: abdicate, renounce, resign mean to give up a position with no possibility of resuming it. abdicate implies a giving up of sovereign power or sometimes an evading of responsibility such as that of a parent <abdicated the throne>. renounce may replace it but often implies additionally a sacrifice for a greater end <renounced her inheritance by marrying a commoner>. resign applies to the giving up of an unexpired office or trust <resigned from the board>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 (usu. absol.) give up or renounce (the throne). 2 renounce (a responsibility, duty, etc.). Derivatives: abdication n. abdicator n. Etymology: L abdicare abdicat- (as AB-, dicare declare)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Abdicate Ab"di*cate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abdicated; p. pr. & vb. n. Abdicating.] [L. abdicatus, p. p. of abdicare; ab + dicare to proclaim, akin to dicere to say. See Diction.] 1. To surrender or relinquish, as sovereign power; to withdraw definitely from filling or exercising, as a high office, station, dignity; as, 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. The cross-bearers abdicated their service. --Gibbon. 2. To renounce; to relinquish; -- said of authority, a trust, duty, right, etc. He abdicates all right to be his own governor. --Burke. The understanding abdicates its functions. --Froude. 3. To reject; to cast off. [Obs.] --Bp. Hall. 4. (Civil Law) To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit. Syn: To give up; quit; vacate; relinquish; forsake; abandon; resign; renounce; desert. Usage: To Abdicate, Resign. Abdicate commonly expresses the act of a monarch in voluntary and formally yielding up sovereign authority; as, to abdicate the government. Resign is applied to the act of any person, high or low, who gives back an office or trust into the hands of him who conferred it. Thus, a minister resigns, a military officer resigns, a clerk resigns. The expression, ``The king resigned his crown,'' sometimes occurs in our later literature, implying that he held it from his people. -- There are other senses of resign which are not here brought into view.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Abdicate Ab"di*cate, v. i. To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity. Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy. --Burke.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(abdicates, abdicating, abdicated) 1. If a king or queen abdicates, he or she gives up being king or queen. The last French king was Louis Philippe, who abdicated in 1848. VERB: V, also V n • abdication ...the most serious royal crisis since the abdication of Edward VIII. N-UNCOUNT: usu with poss 2. If you say that someone has abdicated responsibility for something, you disapprove of them because they have refused to accept responsibility for it any longer. (FORMAL) Many parents simply abdicate all responsibility for their children. VERB: V n [disapproval] • abdication There had been a complete abdication of responsibility. N-UNCOUNT: N of n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. Resign (an office or dignity), surrender (a right), cede, forego, renounce, relinquish, abandon, quit, vacate, give up, part with, lay down, renounce all claim to. II. v. n. Resign, relinquish office, (especially that of a king), vacate the throne, retire to private life, go into retirement.

Moby Thesaurus

abandon, abjure, acknowledge defeat, be pensioned, be superannuated, cashier, cast, cease, cede, cry quits, demit, desist from, drop, forgo, forswear, give over, give up, hand over, have done with, jettison, lay down, leave, leave off, pension off, quit, reject, relinquish, renounce, renounce the throne, resign, retire, retire from office, scrap, shed, slough, stand aside, stand down, step aside, superannuate, surrender, throw away, throw out, throw up, vacate, waive, withdraw from, wrest, yield