1 ~ (sth) (to sb) to say words aloud for sb else to write down:
[VN] He dictated a letter to his secretary. [also V]
2 ~ (sth) (to sb) to tell sb what to do, especially in an annoying way:
[VN] They are in no position to dictate terms (= tell other people what to do). * [Vwh-] What right do they have to dictate how we live our lives? [also Vthat]
3 to control or influence how sth happens:
[VN] When we take our vacations is very much dictated by Greg's work schedule. * [Vwh-] It's generally your job that dictates where you live now. [also V, Vthat]
PHRASALVERBS
dictate to sb [oftenpassive] to give orders to sb, often in a rude or aggressive way:
She refused to be dictated to by anyone.
noun [usuallypl.] (formal) an order, a rule or a command that you must obey:
to follow the dictates of fashion
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
This entry for dictate is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is dictate a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, dictate is tagged as verb.
Does dictate appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — dictate appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
