What's the difference between abdicate and usurp?

Abdicate


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To surrender or relinquish, as sovereign power; to withdraw definitely from filling or exercising, as a high office, station, dignity; as, to abdicate the throne, the crown, the papacy.
  • (v. t.) To renounce; to relinquish; -- said of authority, a trust, duty, right, etc.
  • (v. t.) To reject; to cast off.
  • (v. t.) To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit.
  • (v. i.) To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The phrase "Defender of the Faith," which is usually included in the King's titles, appears neither in the instrument of abdication nor in the bill.
  • (2) The UK and Russia invade Iran and jointly occupy the country, forcing King Reza Shah to abdicate.
  • (3) If so, he would have to abdicate – as Baudouin of Belgium did for a day rather than ratify abortion .
  • (4) Saudis speculate quietly that King Salman may eventually abdicate in favour of his son and bypass Bin Nayef, who has no sons of his own.
  • (5) They solve it, correctly, by making him abdicate, with a bit of help from Prince William’s wife, Kate.
  • (6) If members of other parties feel their input is vital, they can start by contributing to the debate and ensuring they are behind the government's efforts without abdicating their constitutional role as opposition.
  • (7) The psychopathological risk is the "burning out" of the subject, and the defences developed against it, such as humour (casualness), aloofness (abdication), deviance and drug-dependence.
  • (8) Balls, Labour's shadow treasury spokesman, warned that the UK government's hands-off stance on Europe meant one of the top three economies in the EU was in effect abdicating responsibility for resolving a crisis that could engulf the British economy.
  • (9) When blatant falsehoods are presented as truth on critical questions - by a film that touts itself as a journalistic presentation of actual events - insisting on apolitical appreciation of this "art" is indeed a reckless abdication.
  • (10) After the ceremony on Thursday, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will tour central Madrid in a motor cavalcade – a somewhat risky venture given the strength of republican sentiment that has emerged since the abdication was announced.
  • (11) That narrative is appealing because it allows us to abdicate our collective responsibility for a society – and an underlying set of public policies – that accepts and even ensures that a portion of our society will live on the streets, that some of us will be addicted to drugs, and that some of us will just have to deal with grinding poverty – and the traumas that often follow from it.
  • (12) Three patients did not respond to NOVP: two of these did not respond to MOPP or ABDIC, and two are currently without relapse following bone marrow transplant.
  • (13) His royal imperial highness has abdicated and the constitution is in abeyance.
  • (14) While the king's approval rating dropped steadily, that of his son Felipe remained stable at around 66%, leading many to suggest that the monarchy would be better off if the king abdicated.
  • (15) Doxorubicin-containing regimens, such as ABVD (doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine) and ABDIC (doxorubicin, bleomycin, dacarbazine, lomustine, prednisone), have been second-line treatments that have significant antitumor effect and, as such, have resulted in few, if any, long-term cures in most series.
  • (16) The palace recently took the unusual step of denying the abdication rumours.
  • (17) There is therefore no reason why the monarch should abdicate.
  • (18) Rajoy's government must now pass a law creating a legal mechanism for Felipe's assumption of power, which will then allow Juan Carlos to set a date for his formal abdication.
  • (19) So are we then being hoodwinked into thinking if we take this pill, we can abdicate responsibility for all our health needs because we've taken a pill?"
  • (20) Brexit would free UK from 'spirit-crushing' green directives, says minister Read more “Once you abdicate responsibility for something like the environment to the EU, there is a danger that it infantilises the government machine at all levels and people just sit and wait to be told what to do,” Eustice said.

Usurp


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To seize, and hold in possession, by force, or without right; as, to usurp a throne; to usurp the prerogatives of the crown; to usurp power; to usurp the right of a patron is to oust or dispossess him.
  • (v. i.) To commit forcible seizure of place, power, functions, or the like, without right; to commit unjust encroachments; to be, or act as, a usurper.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) If I invoked the Insurrection Act against her wishes, the world would see a male Republican president usurping the authority of a female Democratic governor by declaring an insurrection in a largely African American city.
  • (2) The ease of movement this afforded him allowed him to usurp three ports – at Ras Lanuf, Zeitina and Sidra – and remain in control.
  • (3) Balfe's role has now been usurped by key ministers – including Francis Maude and Oliver Letwin in the Cabinet Office, and Danny Alexander in the Treasury – and finishes after the Conservative party conference next month, when he will deliver a memo to Cameron on his recommendations for the future.
  • (4) The previous indication of limb-threatening ischemia has been usurped by distal arterial reconstruction.
  • (5) Rejecting suggestions that he had been usurped by Clegg as the candidate for change, he said it was his party that wanted to elect police commissioners, create active citizens and tackle poverty at source.
  • (6) In a country where gender inequality is entrenched, this is how easy it is for a well-known man to usurp the role of victim.
  • (7) Are Panathinaikos going to jump out and usurp one of these teams' place in the final?
  • (8) While many employees feel disillusioned and “oppressed” as they feel their jobs and responsibilities are being usurped by Charles’ aides, she claims.
  • (9) An estimated £810m was spent online by British shoppers on Friday, according to internet retail experts IMRG, a figure that eclipsed the £650m splurge predicted for Cyber Monday, and potentially means Boxing Day has been usurped as the biggest shopping day of the year once store sales are taken into account.
  • (10) David Cameron has accused him of cowardice, his mandarins are being accused of bias and UK ministers are trying to usurp his role as Scotland's most influential ambassador.
  • (11) Dave Archambault, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribal council, called the executive order “a menacing action meant to cause fear” and “a blatant attempt by the state and local officials to usurp and circumvent federal authority”.
  • (12) Finally, the need for psychiatric expert witnesses has increased because courts have gradually usurped some psychiatric clinical prerogatives and because there has been a trend toward greater consideration of emotional pain and suffering.
  • (13) Those who claim that conversion or rejection of faith is punishable by death are effectively - and this ought to give their pious hearts pause for reflection - usurping powers reserved solely for God.
  • (14) Also teams who win the Champions League or Europa League but finish outside the qualifying places in their domestic campaign will no longer usurp one of their league rivals to take up their place the following season.
  • (15) This dysphonia can occur as a compensation for anatomic or physiologic alterations within the larynx (vicarious type) or as isolated ventricular fold hypertrophy unaccompanied by other obvious laryngeal disorders (usurpative type).
  • (16) The Labour party hopes to change this next year: if all goes according to plan, local lass Lee Sherriff will usurp John Stevenson, the Tory who – to his own obvious surprise – managed to interrupt 45 years of unbroken red rule in Carlisle by getting elected in 2010.
  • (17) More than this, he has one incontrovertible advantage over anyone who might think about usurping him: he is a Kim.
  • (18) Oh God, deal with the usurpers and oppressors and tyrannical Jews.
  • (19) Everyone knows that there are two Milibands, and Westminster obsessives have long lipped their lips at the Oedipal prospect of Ed the younger usurping David the elder.
  • (20) Just as the house of Lancaster was toppled by the house of York, so, at the beginning of Game of Thrones, has the ruling dynasty of the Targaryens been toppled by a usurper, Robert Baratheon.