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I recently came across the word "dimitido" in an Instituto Cervantes exercise. If you can't link to it, the word appeared in this sentence:

El ejecutivo, quien había dimitido previamente, fue denunciado por los trabajadores.
The executive, who had previously resigned, was denounced by the workers.

I had never seen it before, so I looked it up. I was quite surprised to see that it meant "resigned" because heretofore, I would have used the word "resignado" for resigned. It got me to thinking, What's the difference? and When should I use which?

What research have I done for this? Not much. All I've done is a cursory web search using Google. I realize I could do more, but I'm on a deadline for something else, so I'm going to let someone else have fun doing the research.


¿Cuál es la diferencia entre "resignado", "renunciado" y "dimitido"?

Recientemente me encontré con la palabra "dimitido" en un ejercicio del Instituto Cervantes. Si no puedes enlazarla, la palabra apareció en esta frase:

[Véanse arriba en la parte inglesa.]

Nunca lo había visto antes, así que lo consulté. Me sorprendió bastante ver que significa "resignado" porque hasta ahora, habría usado la palabra "resignado" para "resigned". Me hizo pensar, ¿Cuál es la diferencia? y ¿Cuándo debería usar cuál?

¿Qué investigación he hecho para esto? No mucha. Todo lo que he hecho es una búsqueda superficial en la web usando Google. Me doy cuenta de que podría hacer más, pero estoy en una fecha límite para otra cosa, así que voy a dejar que alguien más se divierta haciendo la investigación.

Traducción realizada, en parte, con la versión gratuita del traductor www.DeepL.com/Translator.

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I've always considered Spanish "resignar" and English "resign" to be false friends. My word of choice for "resign" is "dimitir". (I understood "resignarse", always pronominal, as "to submit").

But looking at the DRAE:

resignar: Dicho de una autoridad: Entregar el mando a otra en determinadas circunstancias.

About an authority: give power to another, in some circumstances.

dimitir: Renunciar, hacer dejación de algo, como un empleo, una comisión, etc.

Renounce, leave something, such as a job, a commission, etc.

So I guess that "resignar" and "dimitir" are synonyms, although I (from Spain) personally always use "dimitir" for this meaning.

For example, in a workers protest, for example, it is some of a trope to bear a sign saying "¡Presidente, dimisión!" or similar.

About "renunciar", it is somewhat different, it just means "give up" in a more generic sense. Naturally, from the definition of "dimitir", you can see that it can be used interchangeably.

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    Renunciar means in Latin America what for you is dimitir. "Renuncié a mi trabajo" is normal. "Dimití" sounds just weird.
    – Gaviota
    Dec 28, 2020 at 10:23
  • Great answer and thank you for using an authoritative resource like the DRAE. I also appreciate the fact that you took the time to add the English equivalents for your examples. Overall, I found your answer interesting and would have continued to wonder about these three words if I hadn't posted a question about them here. Thanks again!
    – Lisa Beck
    Dec 30, 2020 at 3:43

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