Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The act or process of dictating material to another for transcription.
- n. The material so dictated.
- n. An authoritative command or order.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act or practice of dictating, directing, or prescribing: as, he wrote the passage at the teacher's dictation.
- n. Authoritative command or control; positive or arbitrary prescription, direction, or order: as, his dictation brought affairs into great confusion.
- n. Synonyms Injunction, prescription, direction.
Wiktionary
- n. uncountable dictating, the process of speaking for someone else to write down the words
- n. countable an activity in school where the teacher reads a passage aloud and the students write it down
- n. countable the act of ordering or commanding
- n. uncountable orders given in an overbearing manner
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act of dictating; the act or practice of prescribing; also that which is dictated.
- n. The speaking to, or the giving orders to, in an overbearing manner; authoritative utterance.
WordNet 3.0
- n. speech intended for reproduction in writing
- n. an authoritative direction or instruction to do something
- n. matter that has been dictated and transcribed; a dictated passage
Examples
“I think computerized dictation is a wonderful advance, one that will benefit one of my children who has a vision impairment as well as all those people who didn't learn typing as I did.”
“I need to make friends with the story gods so I can become more of a crafter than someone who takes dictation from the great beyond.”
“I daresay a quarter of an hour's practice two or three times a day for a week or so will deliver me from the absurd necessity of having to call in the assistance of the neighbourhood to communicate my bits of news to you; not to say that dictation is only a degree less awkward than left-handed penmanship, having never tried it before in my life.”
“The sentence will be effective for the general reader, and useful as an exercise in dictation at female seminaries.”
“Statesmanship today calls for a very sober and sane appraisal of the whole situation and one great factor which to my mind is going to be the determining factor in the whole situation is that England today is dealing with a new India, an India that might have been guilty of her sins of omission and commission in the past, and so have been many other countries, but India feels a sense of frustration and humiliation to be the only country, a country of 350 million people today, in the 20th century, taking dictation from a foreign power, and that sentiment is so profound and so wide-spread that even those people who do not take an active part in politics cherish that feeling uppermost in their hearts.”
“I was wearing a self-made T-shirt, with the remark in the front as this quote: ‘One-party dictation is a disaster - by Xinhua Daily '.”
Global Voices in English » China: A turmoil triggered by T-shirt
“Mr. Murrow’s warning back then definitely applies to today’s world of non-news, but takes dictation from the administration and it’s lackeys and then produces it to us as ‘news’.”
Think Progress » VIDEO: Zahn Interviews McGovern, Defends Rumsfeld
“She said my dictation was a disgrace to the school, and I'd got to stop in during the interval this morning and write out all the wrong words a dozen times each.”
“But the spirit within him was aroused at the idea of dictation, and he had been prompted to contradict the old woman's accusation against his intended bride, by the very fact that they were made by her.”
“Spicer presents his poetic practice as an act of 'dictation' that engages the dead in the economy of the living.”
The Huffington Post: Travis Nichols: Let Us Now Praise Undead Poets
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘dictation’.
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Words sung by: Belle and Sebastian
beguiling, herbaceous, peninsula, suffragette, damascan, hastening, berserk, overtime, leccy, bestow, swathe, arab strap and 193 more...
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dict-
of or relating to speech
dictation, dictionary, dictaphone, dicta, dictum, dictagraph, dictate, dictatorial, dictator, dictatorship, diction, dictating and 4 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for dictation.
ruzuzu ...(see administration.) Step into my office, baby." Aug 31, 2010
darqueau "she gave me some dictation...(see administration)...
Aug 4, 2008