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abdicate

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

Etymology

    First attested in 1532; borrowed from Latin abdicātus (“renounced”), perfect passive participle of abdicō (“to renounce, reject, disclaim”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), formed from ab (“away”) + dicō (“proclaim, dedicate, declare”), akin to dīcō (“to say”). Compare Middle English abdicat (“forsaken, renounced”).

    Pronunciation

    Verb

    abdicate (third-person singular simple present abdicates, present participle abdicating, simple past and past participle abdicated)

    1. (transitive, obsolete) To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit. [mid 16th – early 19th c.]
    2. (transitive, reflexive, obsolete) To formally separate oneself from or to divest oneself of. [mid 16th – late 17th c.]
    3. (transitive, obsolete) To depose. [early 17th – late 18th c.]
    4. (transitive, obsolete) To reject; to cast off; to discard. [mid 16th – late 17th c.]
      • 1647 June 8 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Hall, “Bishop Hall’s Hard Measure”, in The Shaking of the Olive-Tree. The Remaining Works of that Incomparable Prelate Joseph Hall, D.D. […], London: […] J. Cadwel for J[ohn] Crooke, […], published 1660, →OCLC, page 48:
        [W]e were legally call'd by his Majeſties writ to give our Attendance in Parliament, […] if we did not, we ſhould betray the Truſt committed to us by his Majeſtie, and ſhamefully betray and abdicate the due right both of our ſelves and Succeſſours.
    5. (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. [from mid 17th c.]
      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.
    6. (intransitive) To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity; to renounce sovereignty. [First attested in the early 18th c.]

    Synonyms

    synonyms of "abdicate"

    Antonyms

    Derived terms

    English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *deyḱ- (0 c, 60 e)

    Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    References

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    Italian

    Verb

    abdicate

    1. inflection of abdicare:
      1. second-person plural present indicative
      2. second-person plural imperative

    Latin

    Verb

    abdicāte

    1. second-person plural present active imperative of abdicō

    Spanish

    Verb

    abdicate

    1. second-person singular voseo imperative of abdicar combined with te

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