Vocabulary for High School Students Practice Test

Abdicate means to give up or renounce a throne or responsibility. The idea is stepping away from a position of power or duties that come with it. It’s commonly used for monarchs who relinquish the throne, but it also applies when anyone refuses or hands back a role or set of responsibilities. This is different from conquering or capturing, which imply gaining control, and from accepting, which means taking on duties rather than giving them up. You might hear, for example, that a king abdicated the throne or that someone abdicated their parental responsibilities.