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Dictate: definition, etymology and explanation on Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, n.d.
Read the originalRead on October 17, 2026
- What it is
- The Dictionary.com entry for dictate, with its verb senses, the noun dictates, the Latin origin of the word and a short explanation of its broader meaning. It gives the sense of speaking for a machine to record, the sense of prescribing or commanding with authority, and an example of weather dictating what people wear.
- How much weight it carries
- A general online dictionary whose entries are written and edited by its lexicography staff and cite a published etymology. It is a secondary reference, not a historical dictionary, and it does not list the idiom 'dictate your future'.
Facts taken from this source
- Dictionary.com says dictate can also be used in a broader sense, and gives weather as an example: weather often dictates how many layers of clothes you wear.
“Dictate can also be used in a broader sense. Weather often dictates how many layers of clothes you wear” (Explanation section of the dictate entry)
- Dictionary.com traces dictate to the Latin verb dictāre, which it glosses as to say repeatedly, order, prescribe.
“to say repeatedly, order, prescribe” (Etymology section of the dictate entry)
- Dictionary.com gives a verb sense of dictate: to prescribe or lay down authoritatively or peremptorily, which it glosses as to command unconditionally.
“to prescribe or lay down authoritatively or peremptorily; command unconditionally” (Entry for dictate, verb sense 'prescribe or lay down authoritatively')
- Dictionary.com lists dictates, in the plural, as a noun meaning a guiding or governing principle or requirement, and gives the example of following the dictates of one's conscience.
“to follow the dictates of one's conscience” (Noun entry for dictates)