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Vocabulary Builder — Essay & Answer Writing

Abdicate

verb / AB-dih-kayt / Medium
Meaning

To formally give up or renounce a responsibility, right, power, or office, especially a high office such as a throne or constitutional position

Origin / Etymology

Latin abdicare, ab (away) + dicare (to proclaim)

Synonyms
Relinquish Renounce Forsake Abandon
Antonyms
Assume Claim Retain Uphold
Example Sentence
"Critics argued that the government had abdicated its constitutional duty to provide quality public education by allowing private institutions to dominate without accountability."
🎯 UPSC Usage

Use in GS2 (governance, polity) when describing a government or institution that fails to fulfil its constitutional mandate. Also applies in discussions of judicial abdication, legislative abdication of oversight, or abdication of federal responsibility to states. Avoid using only in the narrow monarchical sense.

Relevant Subjects
Polity
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