Meanings
capitulate1
present singular third person capitulates · participle present capitulating · participle past capitulated · past capitulated
- intransitiveTo surrender on stipulated terms, end all resistance, give up, go along with or comply.First known use the end of the 17ᵗʰ c.
He argued and hollered for so long that I finally capitulated just to make him stop.
3 more examples
The Irish, after holding out a week, capitulated.
1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIV, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLCBEFORE school rocketed into his tiny world with about as much warning as a sputnik, my son knew only little hates. I knew he had got himself a bigger one when he said to me after his first day there: “School, I HATE IT!” He’s been hating it solidly ever since . . . for all of ten weeks. If I was school . . . I’d capitulate tomorrow. I’d bonfire the books, drain the inkwells and bust up the blackboard — if only he would stop hating. It’s wearing me out!
1957 November 14, Sputnik [pseudonym], “My Son Hates School”, in Daily Record, number 19,357, Glasgow: Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2, columns 2–3The CCP has refused to capitulate to Trump’s demands to come to the table and renegotiate their terms of trade.
2025 April 16, Helen Davidson, “Chinese state media tells Trump to ‘stop whining’ as trade war spirals”, in the GuardianSynonyms: wave the white flag, see Thesaurus:surrender · Antonyms: beat, bring down, convince, chew up, eat someone for breakfast, eat someone's lunch, flog, humble
- ambitransitiveobsoleteTo draw up in chapters, heads or articles; to enumerate, specify.
The places of serpents abode being thus generally capitulated.
1608, Edward Topsell, Serpents1 more example
The lawes […] which we capitulate at sea […] are not used on lande.
1593, Thomas Lodge, Life and Death of William Longbeard
comparative more capitulate · superlative most capitulate
- obsoleteCapitulated: agreed upon, convened, settled on, stipulated.
It was capitulate and convenanted, that […] the river Himera, […]
1600, Philemon Holland, A translation of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, XXIV. VI. 512 - obsoleteReduced to heads, laid down under a certain number of heads or items.
- biologyHaving or forming a capitulum.
The aggregation of flowers into capitulate inflorescences is a character directly advantageous from the aspect of the biological function of cross-pollination.
1912, New Phytologist
capitulate2
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo surrender on stipulated terms, end all resistance, give up, go along with or comply.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*kap-
- Medieval Latincapitulō“(originally; of a book, text) to draw up under distinct headings; (from the 15ᵗʰ c.) to bargain, parley, convene”
- Medieval Latincapitulātus
- Englishcapitulate
The adjective is first attested in 1528, the verb in 1537; borrowed from Medieval Latin capitulātus perfect passive participle of Medieval Latin capitulō (“(originally; of a book, text) to draw up under distinct headings; (from the 15ᵗʰ c.) to bargain, parley, convene”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from capitulum (“heading, chapter, title”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), diminutive of caput (“head”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap-. Common participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.
More words from Medieval Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic اِسْتَسْلَمَ
- اِسْتَسْلَمَ (istaslama)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Bulgarian капитули́рам, преда́вам се
- капитули́рам (kapitulíram)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- преда́вам се (predávam se)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- преда́м се (predám se)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Chinese Mandarin 投降, 屈從 /屈从
- 投降 (tóuxiáng)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- 屈從 /屈从 (qūcóng)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- 放棄 /放弃 (fàngqì)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Czech kapitulovat, vzdávat se
- kapitulovatsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- vzdávat sesurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- vzdát sesurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Danish kapitulere, overgive sig
- kapituleresurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- overgive sigsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Dutch capituleren, zich overgeven
- capitulerensurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- zich overgevensurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Esperanto kapitulaci
- kapitulacisurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Estonian kapituleeruma
- kapituleerumasurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Finnish antautua, luovuttaa
- antautuasurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- luovuttaasurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- antaa periksisurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
French capituler, se rendre
- capitulersurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- se rendresurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
German kapitulieren, sich ergeben
- kapitulierensurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- sich ergebensurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Greek παραδίδομαι, συνθηκολογώ
- παραδίδομαι (paradídomai)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- συνθηκολογώ (synthikologó)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Hungarian megadja magát, kapitulál
- megadja magátsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- kapitulálsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Italian capitolare, arrendersi
- capitolaresurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- arrendersisurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Japanese 降伏する
- 降伏する (kōfuku suru)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Korean 항복하다
- 항복하다 (hangbokhada)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Latvian kapitulēt
- kapitulētsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Lithuanian kapituliuoti
- kapituliuotisurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Māori hauraro, whakahauraro
- haurarosurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- whakahaurarosurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Norwegian Bokmål kapitulere, overgi seg
- kapituleresurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- overgi segsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Persian تسلیم شدن
- تسلیم شدن (taslim šodan)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Polish kapitulować, skapitulować
- kapitulowaćsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- skapitulowaćsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- poddawać sięsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- poddać sięsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Portuguese capitular
- capitularsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Romanian capitula
- capitulasurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Russian капитули́ровать, сдава́ться
- капитули́ровать (kapitulírovatʹ)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- сдава́ться (sdavátʹsja)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- сда́ться (sdátʹsja)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Slovak kapitulovať, vzdávať sa
- kapitulovaťsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- vzdávať sasurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- vzdať sesurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Spanish capitular, rendirse
- capitularsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- rendirsesurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- desalzarsesurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Swedish kapitulera, ge upp
- kapitulerasurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- ge uppsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- resignerasurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Thai ยอมแพ้
- ยอมแพ้ (yɔɔm-pɛ́ɛ)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Turkish teslim olmak
- teslim olmaksurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Ukrainian капітулюва́ти, здава́тися
- капітулюва́ти (kapituljuváty)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- здава́тися (zdavátysja)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
- зда́тися (zdátysja)surrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Vietnamese đầu hàng
- đầu hàngsurrender; end all resistance; to give up; to go along with or comply
Cite this entry
capitulate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/capitulate
“capitulate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/capitulate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “capitulate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/capitulate.
Source: capitulate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.