dictator

English

Alternative forms

• dictatour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin dictātor (“a chief magistrate”), from dictō (“dictate, prescribe”), from dīcō (“say, speak”).

Surface analysis is dictate +‎ -or “one who dictates”.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪkˈteɪtə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪkteɪtəɹ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

Noun

dictator (plural dictators)

1. A totalitarian leader of a country, nation, or government.
   • 2019, (Existential Comics), 29 January, 9:27 AM Tweet:

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

   Dictators are always punished eventually.

2. (historical) A magistrate without colleague in republican Ancient Rome, who held full executive authority for a term granted by the senate (legislature), typically to conduct a war.
3. A tyrannical boss or authority figure.
4. A person who dictates text (e.g. letters to a clerk).

Related terms

• dictate
• dictatorial
• dictatorship

 

Translations

totalitarian leader of a dictatorship

• Albanian: diktator (sq) m
• Arabic: دِكْتَاتُور‎ m (diktātūr)
• Armenian: բռնապետ (hy) (bṙnapet)
• Azerbaijani: diktator
• Belarusian: дыкта́тар m (dyktátar)
• Bengali: একনায়ক (eknaẏôk)
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} diktatour m
• Bulgarian: дикта́тор (bg) m (diktátor)
• Burmese: အာဏာရှင် (my) (anahrang), သက်ဦးဆံပိုင် (my) (sak-u:hcampuing)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 獨裁者 (zh), 独裁者 (zh) (dúcáizhě)

• Czech: diktátor (cs) m
• Danish: diktator (da) c
• Dutch: dictator (nl) m
• Esperanto: diktatoro
• Estonian: diktaator
• Finnish: diktaattori (fi)
• French: dictateur (fr) m
• Galician: ditador (gl) m
• Georgian: დიქტატორი (dikṭaṭori)
• German: Diktator (de) m
• Greek: δικτάτορας (el) m (diktátoras)
• Hebrew: דִיקטָטוֹר / דיקטאטור‎ (he) m (diktátor), רוֹדָן‎ (he) m (rodán)
• Hindi: तानाशाह (hi) m (tānāśāh), अधिनायक (hi) m (adhināyak)
• Hungarian: diktátor (hu)
• Icelandic: einræðiherra m
• Irish: deachtóir (ga) m
• Italian: dittatore (it) m
• Japanese: 独裁者 (どくさいしゃ, dokusaisha)
• Kazakh: диктатор (dïktator)
• Khmer: អ្នកប្រើអំណាចផ្ដាច់ការ (nĕək praə ʼɑmnaac phdac kaa)
• Korean: 독재자 (ko) (dokjaeja) (獨裁者 (ko))
• Kyrgyz: диктатор (ky) (diktator)

• Lao: ຜູ້ບົ່ງການ (phū bong kān), ຜູ້ຜະເດັດການ (phū pha det kān)
• Latin: dictātor m
• Latvian: diktators m
• Lithuanian: diktatorius m
• Macedonian: дикта́тор m (diktátor)
• Malay: diktator
• Manx: ardreillagh m, ard-smaghteyder m
• Mongolian: дарангуйлагч (mn) (darangujlagč)
• Norman: dictateur m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: diktator m

• Persian: دیکتاتور‎ (fa) (diktâtor)
• Polish: dyktator (pl) m
• Portuguese: ditador (pt) m, ditadora f
• Romanian: dictator (ro) m
• Russian: дикта́тор (ru) m (diktátor)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дѝкта̄тор m

  Roman: dìktātor (sh) m

• Slovak: diktátor m
• Slovene: diktator (sl) m
• Spanish: dictador (es) m, dictadora f
• Swahili: dikteta (sw) class 5/6
• Swedish: diktator (sv) c
• Tagalog: diktador
• Tajik: диктатор (tg) (diktator)
• Thai: ผู้มีอำนาจ (pûu-mii-am-nâat), จอมบงการ (jɔɔm-bong-gaan), จอมเผด็จการ (jɔɔm-pà-dèt-gaan)
• Turkish: diktatör (tr)
• Turkmen: diktator
• Ukrainian: дикта́тор m (dyktátor)
• Uzbek: diktator (uz)
• Vietnamese: kẻ độc tài (仉獨裁), nhà độc tài (伽獨裁)
• Yiddish: דיקטאַטאָר‎ m (diktator)

tyrannical boss, or authority figure

• Finnish: diktaattori (fi)
• Greek: δικτάτορας (el) m (diktátoras)
• Portuguese: ditador (pt) m

• Russian: дикта́тор (ru) m (diktátor)
• Swahili: dikteta (sw) class 5/6
• Swedish: diktator (sv) c, envåldshärskare c

(historical) Ancient Roman magistrate

• Greek:

  Ancient: δικτάτωρ m (diktátōr)

• Latin: dictātor m

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dictātor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌdɪkˈtaː.tɔr/

• Audio

  (file)

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

Noun

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)

Related terms

• dictaat
• dictatoriaal
• dictatuur

 

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Latin

Etymology

From dictō (“I dictate”) +‎ -tor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /dikˈtaː.tor/, [d̪ɪkˈt̪aː.t̪ɔr]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /dikˈta.tor/, [d̪ikˈt̪aː.t̪ɔr]

Noun

dictātor m (genitive dictātōris); third declension

1. an elected chief magistrate
2. one who dictates.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	dictātor	dictātōrēs
Genitive	dictātōris	dictātōrum
Dative	dictātōrī	dictātōribus
Accusative	dictātōrem	dictātōrēs
Ablative	dictātōre	dictātōribus
Vocative	dictātor	dictātōrēs

Derived terms

• dictātōrius
• dictātrīx
• dictātūra

 

Related terms

• dīcō
• dictāmen
• dictāta
• dictātiō
• dictātiuncula
• dictiō
• dictiōsus
• dictitō
• dictō
• dictum
• dictus

 

Descendants

• Catalan: dictador
• English: dictator
• French: dictateur
• Italian: dittatore
• Polish: dyktator
• Portuguese: ditador
• Romanian: dictator
• Russian: дикта́тор (diktátor)
• Spanish: dictador

References

• 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, 1883–1887)
• dictator in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], 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

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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French dictateur, Latin dictātor.

Noun

dictator m (plural dictatori)

1. dictator

Related terms

• dicta
• dictat
• dictatură