FluentPlex

dictate

/ˈdɪkˌteɪt/ verb C2
  1. To order, command, control. · Etiquette dictates that wedding invitations should be acknowledged in writing.
  2. 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.
  3. To determine or decisively affect. · We issue replacements as necessity dictates.

He/she/it dictates · Past dictated · Past participle dictated · -ing form dictating

+ Save to review

Verb forms

Base form
dictate
He/she/it
dictates
Past
dictated
Past participle
dictated
-ing form
dictating

From the library

I hope the world will not call me cowardly for acting as my conscience dictated.
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 915 · C1
“No, no, I will be on the ground at the proper time; but in my opinion (and I have a right to dictate the preliminaries, as it is I who have received the provocation)—in my opinion the time ought not to be yet.
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 814 · C1
Elizabeth found that nothing was beneath this great lady’s attention which could furnish her with an occasion for dictating to others.
Pride and Prejudice, p. 190 · B2
I am still so weak that I have to write, as you see, by dictating.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, p. 57 · B2

Other matches

Learn dictate in real texts

With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.

Create free account
Words, meanings, pronunciations and translations from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); how common each word is from wordfreq. Made into this dictionary by FluentPlex.