abdicate
verb (used without object)
to renounce or relinquish a throne, right, power, claim, responsibility, or the like, especially in a formal manner.
abdicated
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past participleof abdicate.past participle
A verb form used in perfect and passive verb constructions and that can also function as a modifier.
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past tense formof abdicate.past tense
Used to describe completed actions or previous habitual actions.
abdicateverb (used without object)to renounce or relinquish a throne, right, power, claim, responsibility, or the like, especially in a formal manner.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The plan is to invest in “everything our country has outsourced and abdicated over recent decades,” Combs says.
From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026
Executives say the looser rules will allow them to compete more in corners of lending they have largely abdicated because of the capital costs, like to riskier companies or private-equity firms striking deals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
There is something quietly ironic about expecting municipal leaders to serve as democratic guardrails when we have collectively abdicated our own responsibility in even the simplest level of civic participation.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2026
Ayad Akhtar’s “McNeal,” which had its premiere last year at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater in a production starring Robert Downey Jr., failed precisely because it abdicated this responsibility.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2025
“You done abdicated my girl,” she howled, “but I’ll git her back. You watch!”
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
