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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

abdicate.

To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈæb.dɪˌkeɪt/Received-Pronunciation
  1. To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit.

    obsolete · transitive
  2. To formally separate oneself from or to divest oneself of.

    obsolete · reflexive · transitive
  3. To depose.

    obsolete · transitive
  4. To reject; to cast off; to discard.

    obsolete · transitive
  5. 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.

    transitive
    to abdicate the throne, the crown, the papacy
  6. To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity; to renounce sovereignty.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Italic *ap Latin abder. Latin ab- Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *déyḱs Proto-Italic *-diks Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin -dicōbf. Latin dicō Latin abdicō Latin abdicātusbor. English abdicate 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”). Compare typologically abandon, Russian отказа́ться (otkazátʹsja), отре́чься (otréčʹsja).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.