Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word dictate. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word dictate, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say dictate in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word dictate you have here. The definition of the word dictate will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofdictate, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
2001, Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 409:
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.
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.
1961 December, “The Channel Tunnel—a realistic proposal”, in Trains Illustrated, page 723:
Geology dictates the approximate location of the tunnel.
1977 August 20, David Holland, quoting Tony Bosco, “Tony Bosco”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 7, page 19:
I didn't lay this bar, or the restaurant for that matter, out on paper. The design was dictated by the materials.