abdicate
verb
Simple meaning
To surrender, renounce or relinquish, as sovereign power.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
abduhkaytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈæbdəkeɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
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.
intransitive
To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity; to renounce sovereignty.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: 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 'abdicate' is to formally give up a powerful position, especially royal power, or to shirk a responsibility. It implies a voluntary but significant relinquishment.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Critical but measured
Where you'll really hear it
History books
“King Edward VIII chose to abdicate the throne in 1936.”
Political commentary
“The leader was urged to abdicate his position.”
Workplace discussions
“He tended to abdicate responsibility when things got tough.”
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use abdicate
- “The King abdicated when he married a divorcee.”verb
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.