verb /ˈæbdɪkeɪt/
a) 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.
Syn: give up, relinquish, renounce, quit, vacate, surrender, relent, forsake, abandon, desert, resign
See Also: abdication
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