abdicate

  1. Verb.  (transitive) 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.
  2. Verb.  (transitive, obsolete) To reject; to cast off.
  3. Verb.  (transitive, legal) To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit.
  4. Verb.  (intransitive) To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity; to renounce sovereignty.

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This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.