capitulate
/kəˈpɪ.tjʊ.lət/
capitulate means capitulated: agreed upon, convened, settled on, stipulated. It carries an Arena rating of 1591, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, capitulate ranks #1,042 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #1,347 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,653 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,435 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
capitulate is pronounced /kəˈpɪ.tjʊ.lət/.
Why “capitulate” is a great word
To surrender or cease resistance, especially under agreed conditions. From Medieval Latin capitulātus, past participle of capitulō ('to draw up under headings, to bargain'), from capitulum ('small head, chapter'), diminutive of Latin caput ('head'), from Proto-Indo-European *kap-; the adjective is first attested in 1528, the verb in 1537. Unlike submit, which implies a yielding to sheer authority, or succumb, which suggests a frail giving way to overwhelming pressure, to capitulate is to formally negotiate one’s own defeat, drafting the final chapter. It is the governor signing the articles at the town hall, the chess player tipping his king with a quiet nod, the last holdout folding his map and walking, unarmed, into the noon light—the moment will ceases, and the terms begin.
Etymology
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.
adj
- Capitulated: agreed upon, convened, settled on, stipulated.e.g.“It was capitulate and convenanted, that […] the river Himera, […]” — 1600, Philemon Holland, A translation of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, XXIV. VI. 512:
- Reduced to heads, laid down under a certain number of heads or items.
- Having or forming a capitulum.e.g.“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:
verb
- To surrender on stipulated terms, end all resistance, give up, go along with or comply.e.g.“He argued and hollered for so long that I finally capitulated just to make him stop.”
- To draw up in chapters, heads or articles; to enumerate, specify.e.g.“The lawes […] which we capitulate at sea […] are not used on lande.” — 1593, Thomas Lodge, Life and Death of William Longbeard:
- To draw up articles of agreement with; to propose terms, treat, bargain, parley.e.g.“there capitulates with the king […] to take to wife his daughter Mary” — 1661, Peter Heylin, Ecclesia restaurata:
- To make conditions, stipulate, agree, formulate, conclude (upon something).
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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