- 1[intransitive, transitive] to give up the position of being king or queen He abdicated in favor of his son. abdicate something She was forced to abdicate the throne of Spain.
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- 2[transitive] abdicate responsibility/your responsibilities to fail or refuse to perform a duty
abdicate
verbNAmE//ˈæbdɪˌkeɪt//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they abdicate he / she / it abdicates
past simple abdicated
-ing form abdicating
NAmE//ˌæbdɪˈkeɪʃn//
noun [uncountable, countable]See abdicate in the Oxford Advanced Learner's DictionaryCheck pronunciation: abdicate