capitulate

WOTD – 9 April 2007

Pronunciation

verb

(UK) IPA^(key): /kəˈpɪ.tjʊ.leɪt/, /kəˈpɪ.t͡ʃə.leɪt/
(US) IPA^(key): /kəˈpɪt͡ʃ.jʊ.leɪt/, /kəˈpɪt͡ʃ.jə.leɪt/
Audio (US): (file)
Audio (General Australian): (file)

adjective, noun

(UK) IPA^(key): /kəˈpɪ.tjʊ.lət/, /kəˈpɪ.t͡ʃə.lət/
(US) IPA^(key): /kəˈpɪt͡ʃ.jʊ.lət/, /kəˈpɪt͡ʃ.jə.lət/

Etymology 1

The adjective is first attested in 1528, the verb in 1537; borrowed from Medieval Latin capitulātus perfect passive participle of Medieval Latin capitulō (“(originally; of a book, text) to draw up under distinct headings; (from the 15^th c.) to bargain, parley, convene”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from capitulum (“heading, chapter, title”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), diminutive of caput (“head”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap-. Common participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

Verb

capitulate (third-person singular simple present capitulates, present participle capitulating, simple past and past participle capitulated)

(intransitive, originally only in military setting) To surrender on stipulated terms, end all resistance, give up, go along with or comply. [from the end of the 17^th c.]
Synonyms: wave the white flag, see Thesaurus:surrender

Antonyms: see Thesaurus:defeat

He argued and hollered for so long that I finally capitulated just to make him stop.
- 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIV, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
  The Irish, after holding out a week, capitulated.
- 2025 April 16, Helen Davidson, “Chinese state media tells Trump to ‘stop whining’ as trade war spirals”, in the Guardian‎:
  The CCP has refused to capitulate to Trump’s demands to come to the table and renegotiate their terms of trade.
(ambitransitive, obsolete) To draw up in chapters, heads or articles; to enumerate, specify.
- 1593, Thomas Lodge, Life and Death of William Longbeard:
  The lawes […] which we capitulate at sea […] are not used on lande.
- 1608, Edward Topsell, Serpents:
  The places of serpents abode being thus generally capitulated.
(transitive, obsolete) To draw up articles of agreement with; to propose terms, treat, bargain, parley.
- 1661, Peter Heylin, Ecclesia restaurata:
  there capitulates with the king […] to take to wife his daughter Mary
(transitive, obsolete) To make conditions, stipulate, agree, formulate, conclude (upon something).

Derived terms

Translations

surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply

Albanian: kapitulloj (sq)
Arabic: اِسْتَسْلَمَ (istaslama)
Armenian: անձնատուր լինել (hy) (anjnatur linel), հանձնվել (hy) (hanjnvel)
Azerbaijani: təslim olmaq
Belarusian: капітулява́ць impf or pf (kapituljavácʹ), здава́цца impf (zdavácca), зда́цца pf (zdácca)
Bulgarian: капитули́рам (bg) impf or pf (kapitulíram), преда́вам се (bg) impf (predávam se), преда́м се pf (predám se)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 投降 (zh) (tóuxiáng) (to surrender), 屈從 / 屈从 (zh) (qūcóng) (to submit/yield), 放棄 / 放弃 (zh) (fàngqì) (to give up)
Czech: kapitulovat (cs) impf or pf, vzdávat se impf, vzdát se (cs) pf
Danish: kapitulere, overgive sig
Dutch: capituleren (nl), zich overgeven (nl)
Esperanto: kapitulaci (eo)
Estonian: kapituleeruma
Finnish: antautua (fi), luovuttaa (fi), antaa periksi (fi)
French: capituler (fr), se rendre (fr)
Georgian: დანებება (danebeba)
German: kapitulieren (de), sich ergeben (de)
Greek: παραδίδομαι (el) (paradídomai), συνθηκολογώ (el) (synthikologó)
Hindi: please add this translation if you can
Hungarian: megadja magát, kapitulál (hu)
Italian: capitolare (it), arrendersi (it)
Japanese: 降伏する (ja) (こうふくする, kōfuku suru)
Kazakh: берілу (berılu), бағыну (bağynu)
Korean: 항복하다 (ko) (hangbokhada)
Kyrgyz: багынуу (ky) (bagınuu)
Latvian: kapitulēt
Lithuanian: kapituliuoti
Macedonian: капитули́ра impf or pf (kapitulíra), се предава impf (se predava), се предаде pf (se predade)
Maori: hauraro, whakahauraro
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kapitulere, overgi seg
Persian: تسلیم شدن (fa) (taslim šodan)
Polish: kapitulować (pl) impf, skapitulować (pl) pf, poddawać się (pl) impf, poddać się (pl) pf
Portuguese: capitular (pt)
Romanian: capitula (ro)
Russian: капитули́ровать (ru) impf or pf (kapitulírovatʹ), сдава́ться (ru) impf (sdavátʹsja), сда́ться (ru) pf (sdátʹsja)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: капитули́рати impf or pf, преда́вати се impf, прѐдати се pf

Roman: kapitulírati (sh) impf or pf, predávati se (sh) impf, prèdati se (sh) pf
Slovak: kapitulovať impf or pf, vzdávať sa impf, vzdať se pf
Slovene: kapitulirati impf or pf, predajati se impf, predati se pf
Spanish: capitular (es), rendirse (es)
Swedish: kapitulera (sv), ge upp (sv), resignera (sv)
Tajik: таслим шудан (taslim šudan)
Thai: ยอมแพ้ (yɔɔm-pɛ́ɛ)
Turkish: teslim olmak (tr)
Ukrainian: капітулюва́ти impf or pf (kapituljuváty), здава́тися (uk) impf (zdavátysja), зда́тися pf (zdátysja)
Uzbek: taslim boʻlmoq
Vietnamese: đầu hàng (vi)

Adjective

capitulate (comparative more capitulate, superlative most capitulate)

(obsolete, as a participle)
1. Capitulated: agreed upon, convened, settled on, stipulated.
  - 1600, Philemon Holland, A translation of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, XXIV. VI. 512:
    It was capitulate and convenanted, that […] the river Himera, […]
2. Reduced to heads, laid down under a certain number of heads or items.
  (Can we add an example for this sense?)
(botany) Having or forming a capitulum.
- 1912, New Phytologist:
  The aggregation of flowers into capitulate inflorescences is a character directly advantageous from the aspect of the biological function of cross-pollination.

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Verb

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

Related terms

Etymology 2

Noun

Spanish

Verb

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