dictate. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

dictate

SYLLABICATION:	dic·tate
PRONUNCIATION:	dktt, dk-tt
VERB:	Inflected forms: dic·tat·ed, dic·tat·ing, dic·tates
TRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To say or read aloud to be recorded or written by another: dictate a letter. 2a. To prescribe with authority; impose: dictated the rules of the game. b. To control or command: “Foreign leaders were . . . dictated by their own circumstances, bound by the universal imperatives of politics” (Doris Kearns Goodwin).
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To say or read aloud material to be recorded or written by another: dictated for an hour before leaving for the day. 2. To issue orders or commands.
NOUN:	(dktt)1. A directive; a command. 2. A guiding principle: followed the dictates of my conscience.
ETYMOLOGY:	Latin dictre, dictt-, frequentative of dcere, to say. See deik- in Appendix I.
SYNONYMS:	dictate, decree, impose, ordain, prescribe These verbs mean to set forth expressly and authoritatively: victors dictating the terms of surrender; martial law decreed by the governor; impose obedience; a separation seemingly ordained by fate; taxes prescribed by law.


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.