Is dictate a noun or a verb?

Dictate is a verb. That is the word's main job in English, in both its writing sense and its order sense. It has a less common noun form, which dictionaries mark as formal, and the noun for the act of speaking words to be written down is a different word, dictation. So if you searched "is dictate a noun", the short answer is that it can be one, but rarely is.

Dictate is a verb in its everyday senses

Most people meet dictate as an action: you dictate a letter, a note or a message. Cambridge defines the verb as speaking something aloud for a person or machine to record, so that it can be written down ¹. The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary gives a parallel definition: saying words for somebody else to write down or to be recorded ².

The verb takes an object ("dictate a letter") or stands alone ("I dictated all morning"), so it names an action the speaker performs.

Dictate has a formal noun form that means an order

The noun is rarer. Cambridge labels it formal and usually plural, and defines it as an order that should be obeyed, often one that you give to yourself ³. You will see it in sentences such as "She followed the dictates of her conscience", where the sense is a rule that feels binding. The plural is the usual form.

If a sentence uses "dictate" as a thing, with "the" in front and a plural ending, it is the noun. If the word names something a person does, it is the verb.

Dictation is a noun, in two senses

The noun dictation is more common, and its two senses are both nouns. The first is uncountable: Cambridge defines it as the activity of dictating something for someone else to write down ⁴, as in "she took dictation all morning". The second is countable, and it names a school test in which a piece of writing is dictated to students learning a foreign language ⁵. You can have one dictation in the classroom sense, but not one dictation in the office sense.

How to tell which part of speech a sentence needs

Three quick tests cover most cases.

1. Is someone doing something? If yes, use the verb: "I will dictate the report tonight."
2. Is the word a thing that is ordered or obeyed? If yes, the noun dictate fits: "the dictates of the law."
3. Does the word name the activity or a software feature? Then use the noun dictation: "dictation software", "a dictation app", "dictation on an iPhone." In the phrase "dictation software", the noun works like a label for the product.

The word also appears on buttons. The Microsoft Word button reads Dictate, a verb, because pressing it starts an action.

Why people ask the question

The word is often used in two senses at once, in a dictionary entry or in a headline about a boss who likes to dictate. Learners also meet dictate and dictation in the same lesson, and the difference between them is easy to miss. Knowing that dictate is the verb and dictation is the act gives you the right word in each case.

For the meaning of each word, read what does dictate mean. For the broader subject, read what is dictation and the glossary entry for dictation. If you are comparing dictation with a neighboring term, see dictation vs diction.