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abdicate

UK/ˈæb.dɪˌkeɪt/
verbC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,976 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: abdicated, abdicating, abdicates

To abdicate is to give up a throne. Abdicate the throne, forced to abdicate, abdicate responsibility.

Edward the Eighth is the British example, in 1936, and it required an Act of Parliament. The figurative sense is a serious charge: to abdicate responsibility is to walk away from a duty rather than merely fail at it.

Gaetano Ferri / François Bouchot · Public domain

Definitions of abdicate

  1. 1verbabdicateTo give up a throne.C1

    “The old king abdicated in favour of his son and retired to the countryside.”

abdicate is a giving up.

Where it comes from

Latin abdicare means to renounce — ab, away, plus dicare, to proclaim.

  1. Latin

    abdicātus

  2. English, today

    abdicate

Built from

  • abdicō · Latin — to renounce, reject, disclaim
  • ab · Latin — away
  • dicō · Latin — proclaim, dedicate, declare
  • dīcō · Latin — to say

Borrowed from Latin abdicātus. 1532; Latin abdicātus (“renounced”), perfect passive participle of abdicō (“to renounce, reject, disclaim”) (see -ate), formed from ab (“away”) + dicō (“proclaim, dedicate, declare”), akin to dīcō (“to say”). Compare Middle English abdicat (“forsaken, renounced”). Compare typologically abandon, отказа́ться, отре́чься.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in History & Eras

Practise this word

abdicate in the wild

  • When Napoleon I tried to abdicate on 4 April 1814, he said that his son would rule as emperor.

    Napoleon II

  • However, the coalition victors refused to acknowledge his son as successor, and Napoleon I was forced to abdicate unconditionally some days later.

    Napoleon II

  • In doing so, he was also the second Belgian monarch to abdicate, following his father, Leopold III, who abdicated in 1951.

    Albert II of Belgium

  • Meleager ruled as King of Macedonia during 279 BC for two months until he was compelled by his Macedonian troops to abdicate his crown.

    Meleager (king)

  • John Doukas forced Nikephoros to abdicate in favor of Alexios I Komnenos in 1081, and shortly afterwards Alexios elevated Constantine to junior emperor.

    Constantine Doukas (co-emperor)

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the dīcō family

indicateaddict

abdicate — used about once every 18,318 pages · #12,976 · point at the bar for the others