dictator

• dictatour (obsolete)

From Latin dictātor (“a chief magistrate”), from dictō (“dictate, prescribe”), from dīcō (“say, speak”).^[1] By surface analysis, dictate +‎ -or, literally “one who dictates”. Compare Old English tictator (“absolute ruler of the Roman Republic”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪkˈteɪtə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪkˌteɪtəɹ/, [-ɾəɹ]

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: dic‧ta‧tor

dictator (plural dictators)

1. A totalitarian leader of a country, nation, or government.
   • 1971, Lyndon Johnson, “A Time of Testing: Crises in the Caribbean”, in The Vantage Point‎^[1], Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 188:

     The Dominicans had lived for thirty years under the iron-fisted rule of dictator Leonidas Trujillo. During those years, which ended with Trujillo's assassination in 1961, those who opposed Trujillo had three choices: to go into exile, to go underground, or to remain quiet. Most Dominicans had chosen the third course.

   • 2019, (Existential Comics), 29 January, 9:27 AM Tweet:

     Dictator, noun : someone who doesn't let American CEOs dictate how their country is run

   • 2023 June 21, Trevor Hunnicutt, Ryan Woo, quoting Joe Biden, “China hits back after Biden calls Xi a 'dictator'”, in Reuters‎^[2], archived from the original on 22 June 2023:

     "The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it was he didn't know it was there," Biden said.
     "That's a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn't know what happened. That wasn't supposed to be going where it was. It was blown off course," Biden said.

   • 2025 May 22, “Monument to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in Moscow metro stirs debate”, in Reuters‎^[3]:

     A monument to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin erected in Moscow's metro is stirring debate, with some Russians welcoming it as a historical tribute, but others saying it's a mistake to commemorate someone who presided over so much suffering.

2. (history) A magistrate without colleague in republican Ancient Rome, who held full executive authority for a term granted by the Senate, typically to conduct a war.
3. A tyrannical boss or authority figure.
4. Misspelling of dictater.

• → Pashto: ديکتاتور (diktātor), ډيکټاټور (ḍikṭaṭor)
• → Swahili: dikteta
• → Urdu: ڈِکْٹیٹَر (ḍikṭeṭar)

Borrowed from Latin dictātor.

• IPA^(key): /ˌdɪkˈtaː.tɔr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dic‧ta‧tor
• Rhymes: -aːtɔr

dictator m (plural dictatoren or dictators, diminutive dictatortje n)

1. dictator (tyrant, despot)

   Synonyms: despoot, dwingeland, tiran

2. (historical) dictator (Roman magistrate with expanded powers)

• Afrikaans: diktator

From dictō (“to dictate, prescribe, order”) +‎ -tor m (masculine agentive suffix).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [dɪkˈtaː.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [d̪ikˈt̪aː.t̪or]

dictātor m (genitive dictātōris, feminine dictātrīx); third declension

1. an elected chief magistrate

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

2. one who dictates

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Third-declension noun.

• “dictator”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “dictator”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "dictator", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• dictator in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[4], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to name a person dictator: dictatorem dicere (creare)
    
  • a dictator appoints a magister equitum: dictator dicit (legit) magistrum equitum
    
• “dictator”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “dictator”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Borrowed from French dictateur, Latin dictātor. Equivalent to dicta +‎ -tor.

dictator m (plural dictatori)

1. dictator