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abdicate Definition

ab·di·cate (ab′di kāt′)

transitive verb, intransitive verb abdicated -·cat′ed, abdicating -·cat′·ing

  1. to give up formally (a high office, throne, authority, etc.)
  2. to surrender or repudiate (a right, responsibility, etc.)

Etymology: < L abdicatus, pp. of abdicare, to deny, renounce < ab-, off + dicare, to proclaim, akin to dicere, to say: see diction

Related Forms:

abdicate Synonyms

abdicate

v.

relinquish, give up, renounce, withdraw; see abandon 1, resign 2.

abdicate Usage Examples

Object

  • responsibility: We cannot abdicate the responsibility to deal with these acts in the correct manner.
  • control: Will artists routinely compete for control or abdicate control in favor of a defined group esthetic?

Modifying Another Word

  • not: But our people have opted for democracy as a way of life from which we will not abdicate.
  • never: Courts must never abdicate their duty to protect citizens from the abuse of power by governments, a senior judge said last night.

Preposition: in

  • favor: People have decided to ask the Tsar to abdicate in favor of his son.
  • favor: He agreed to abdicate and retire to Medina 291 Hasan abdicates in favor of Mu'awiya, 21 iii.

Preposition: from

  • responsibility: To abdicate from responsibility by doing nothing is to sin.
abdicate Quotes

Anyone happy in this age and place Is daft or corrupt. Better to abdicate From a material and spiritual terrain Fit only for barbarians.

—Fuller, Roy Broadbent