Definition of ABDICATE

abdicate

Verb

Verb Forms: abdicated, abdicating, abdicates

  • To renounce a throne, right, power, or responsibility.
  • give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations
    • "The King abdicated when he married a divorcee"
  • To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit.
  • To formally separate oneself from or to divest oneself of.
  • To depose.
  • To reject; to cast off; to discard.
  • 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.
  • To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity; to renounce sovereignty.

Examples

  • Don’t abdicate your chance at a bingo by settling for a lesser word.
  • to abdicate the throne, the crown, the papacy

Origin / Etymology

First attested in 1532; 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”). Cognate with Middle English abdicat (“forsaken, renounced”).

Synonyms

renounce, abandon, abjure, cast aside, cast off, cede, desert, disinherit, disown, forego, forsake, give up, quit, refuse, reject, relent, relinquish, repudiate, resign, retire, stand down, surrender, vacate, waive, yield

Scrabble Score: 13

abdicate: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
abdicate: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
abdicate: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 15

abdicate: valid Words With Friends Word