ABDICATE

abdicate, renounce

(verb) give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations; “The King abdicated when he married a divorcee”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Verb

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. [Attested from the mid 16^th century until the early 19^th century.]

(transitive, reflexive, obsolete) To formally separate oneself from or to divest oneself of. [First attested from the mid 16^th century until the late 17^th century.]

(transitive, obsolete) To depose. [Attested from the early 17^th century until the late 18^th century.]

(transitive, obsolete) To reject; to cast off; to discard. [Attested from the mid 16^th century until the late 17^th century.]

(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. [First attested in the mid 17^th century.]

(intransitive) To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity; to renounce sovereignty. [First attested in the early 18^th century.]

Synonyms

• abandon

• abjure

• cast aside

• cast off

• cede

• desert

• disinherit

• disown

• forego

• forsake

• give up

• quit

• refuse

• reject

• relent

• relinquish

• renounce

• repudiate

• resign

• retire

• stand down

• surrender

• vacate

• waive

• yield

Antonyms

• claim

• grasp

• maintain

• occupy

• retain

• seize

• usurp

Source: Wiktionary

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Ab"di*cate, v.t. [imp. & p.p. Abdicated; p.pr. & vb.n. Abdicating.] Etym: [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)

Definition: 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.

– 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.

Ab"di*cate, v.i.

Definition: 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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