| Definitions | | abdicate |
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verb (abdicat, ing)
- (transitive) To surrender, renounce 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
- He abdicates all right to be his own governor. - Edmund Burke
- The understanding abdicates its functions. - Froude
- (transitive) (obsolete) To reject; to cast off. - Bp. Hall
- (transitive) To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit.
- (intransitive) To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity; to renounce sovereignty.
- Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy. w:Edmund Burke, Edmund Burke
Etymology: From (term, abdicatus, lang=la), past participle of (term, abdicare, lang=la), formed from (term, ab-, lang=la) + (term, dicare, , to proclaim, lang=la), akin to (term, dicere, , to say, lang=la).
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Full Definition of abdicate
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