The Novice Writer: Abdicate Explained!

Abdicate Explained!

Abdicate

verb

Meaning and Usage:

to renounce or relinquish a throne, right, power, responsibility, or the like, especially in a formal manner
to give up authority, duties, an office etc, especially in a voluntary, public, or formal manner
fail to fulfill or undertake responsibility or duty
to cast off, discard

The aging founder of the firm decided to abdicate.

King Edward 8 of England abdicated the throne in 1936.

In 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated as German emperor.

The Government was accused of abdicating its responsibility.

Other forms:

Abdicable - adjective
Abdicative - adjective
Abdicator - noun
Non-abdicative - adjective
Un-abdicated - adjective
Abdicates - 3rd person present
Abdicated - past tense / past participle
Abdicating - gerund or present participate
Abdication - noun

Synonyms:

Resign
Quit
Abandon
Repudiate
Forgo
Relinquish
Renounce
Vacate
Abjure
Abnegate
Withdraw
Disown
Cede

Antonyms:

Keep
Come
Continue
Defend
Maintain
Retain
Defy
Claim
Hold
Stay
Usurp
Appropriate
Arrogate
Assume
Confiscate
Seize
Wrest
Guard
Protect
Secure
Safeguard
Procure

Related Words:

Abjure
Deny
Disavow
Disclaim
Disown
Waive
Forsake
Give up
Hand over
Yield
Leave holding the bag
Leave in the lurch
Sell out
Leave high and dry
Bag it
Bail out
Give up the ship
Fly the coop
Kiss Goodbye
Wash Hands of
Take a walk
Chicken out
Cut loose

Rhymes:

Abate
Ablate
Fate
Sate
Deflate
Wait
anything that ends with "ate", "eight", "ait"
Fete
Aydt
Eyght
Mayte

Anagrams:

No meaningful anagrams can be made.

Origin:

1540s, "to disown, disinherit (children)," from Latin abdicatus, past participle of abdicare"to disown, disavow, reject" (specifically abdicare magistratu "renounce office"), from ab-"away" (see ab- ) + dicare "proclaim," from stem of dicere "to speak, to say" (see diction). Meaning "divest oneself of office" first recorded 1610s. Related: Abdicated ; abdicating.

Give it up. English includes many words for the process of throwing in the towel, especially for relinquishing a job or elected office. Abdicate, a derivative of the prefix ab- (meaning "from," "away," or "off") and the Latin verb dicare (meaning to "proclaim"), has been used primarily for those who give up sovereign power or who evade a very serious responsibility (such as parental responsibility). Renounceis often used as a synonym of abdicate, but it adds to that term the suggestion that an individual is giving up something as a sacrifice to achieve a far greater end. Resign is another option when you are describing a more matter-of-fact departure from a job, office, or trust.

Sentences:

Using the crowd-sourced encyclopedia as a shield, platforms abdicate responsibility for their own problems, without having to give anything back in return.
Queen Elizabeth II's uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated in 1939 to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson -- something unheard of at the time.
Its third-to-last, increasingly repressive sultan, Abdul Hamid II, was forced to abdicate in 1909.
Too many states have asked to waive work requirements, abdicating their responsibility to move participants to self-sufficiency.
Napoleon compelled Ferdinand to abdicate the throne.
He agreed to abdicate and retire in favor of the next in line to the throne.
The King decided to abdicate in favor of his son.
To abdicate from responsibility by doing nothing can be viewed as a sin.
In recent decades it has become the tradition for the monarch to abdicate.
Whenever you like to rebel, I shall be just as ready to abdicate.
The man might abdicate, but the magistrate was irremoveable.
Despite the similarities among these words, they tend to be used in fairly specific settings. You would not typically tell your employer that you are abdicating your position in order to look for a better job; you would say that you are resigning. And when the king of a country renounces his claim on the throne to marry his one true love, he would be said to abdicate, rather than resign, his position.