Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
Related Searches
on Ask.com
Synonyms
Nearby Entries
abdicate - 5 dictionary results

ab⋅di⋅cate

  [ab-di-keyt] verb, -cat⋅ed, -cat⋅ing.
Use abdicate in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to renounce or relinquish a throne, right, power, claim, responsibility, or the like, esp. in a formal manner: The aging founder of the firm decided to abdicate.
–verb (used with object)
2. to give up or renounce (authority, duties, an office, etc.), esp. in a voluntary, public, or formal manner: King Edward VIII of England abdicated the throne in 1936.
Origin:
1535–45; < L abdicātus renounced (ptp. of abdicāre), equiv. to ab- ab- + dicātus proclaimed (dic- (see dictum ) + -ātus -ate 1 )

Related forms:
ab⋅di⋅ca⋅ble  [ab-di-kuh-buhl] , adjective
ab⋅di⋅ca⋅tive  [ab-di-key-tiv, -kuh-] , adjective
ab⋅di⋅ca⋅tor, noun

Synonyms:
1. resign, quit. 2. abandon, repudiate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To abdicate
ab·di·cate   (āb'dĭ-kāt')   
v.   ab·di·cat·ed, ab·di·cat·ing, ab·di·cates

v.   tr.
To relinquish (power or responsibility) formally.
v.   intr.
To relinquish formally a high office or responsibility.

[Latin abdicāre, abdicāt-, to disclaim : ab-, away; see ab-1 + dicāre, to proclaim; see deik- in Indo-European roots.]
ab'di·ca·ble (-kə-bəl) adj., ab'di·ca'tion n., ab'di·ca'tor n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

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.

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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source
Language Translation for : abdicate
Spanish: abdicar,
German: abdanken,
Japanese: 退位する
More Translations »

abdicate 
1541, "to disown, disinherit (children)," from L. abdicatus, pp. of abdicare "disown, disinherit" (specifically abdicare magistratu "renounce office"), from ab- "away" + dicare "proclaim," from stem of dicere "to speak, to say" (see diction). Meaning "divest oneself of office" first recorded 1618.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Search another word or see abdicate on Thesaurus | Reference