dictate
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L319429 on Wikidata ↗verb
- to order someone to perform a certain task, especially without their consent
- to speak words which are transcribed to text
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈdɪkˌteɪt/ / /(ˌ)dɪkˈteɪt/
noun
Etymology: First attested in 1581; borrowed from Latin dictātum (“a thing said, something dictated”), substantivized from the nominative neuter singular of dictātus, the perfect passive participle of dictō (“pronounce or declare repeatedly; dictate”), frequentative of dīcō (“say, speak”). Doublet of diktat.
- An order or command.
“I must obey the dictates of my conscience.”
verb
Etymology: First attested in 1577; borrowed from Latin dictātus, perfect passive participle of dictō (“to pronounce or declare repeatedly; to dictate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), frequentative of dīcō (“say, speak”).
- To order, command, control.
“Etiquette dictates that wedding invitations should be acknowledged in writing.”
“Trademark Owners will nevertheless try to dictate how their marks are to be represented, but dictionary publishers with spine can resist such pressure.”
- To speak in order for someone to write down the words.
“She is dictating a letter to a stenographer.”
“The French teacher dictated a passage from Victor Hugo.”
- To determine or decisively affect.
“He had offered, and been refused! There was that in her own nature, which sympathised with the pride, for such she held to be the motive, dictating the refusal.”
“Geology dictates the approximate location of the tunnel.”