abdicate

Definition

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

Etymology

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”).

Example Sentences

• "[W]e were legally call'd by his Majeſties writ to give our Attendance in Parliament, […] if we did not, we ſhould betray the Truſt committed to us by his Majeſtie, and ſhamefully betray and abdicate the due right both of our ſelves and Succeſſours."
• "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."