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A.Word.A.Day--abdicate

abdicate (AB-di-kayt) verb tr.

To relinquish (power or responsibility) formally.

verb intr.

To relinquish formally a high office or responsibility.

[Latin abdicare, abdicat-, to disclaim : ab-, away + dicare, to proclaim]

"Other Javanese rulers who were forced to abdicate after the Dutch firmly established their colonial rule in Java in 1830 fared a worse fate, be it death, exile or prison such as former president Sukarno who died in military detention in 1970." Onghokham, Soeharto embodied Javanese ruler, The Jakarta Post, 25 May 1998.

abdication, n. An act whereby a sovereign attests his sense of the high temperature of the throne. [From The Devil's Dictionary]

This week's theme: Words from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.

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