Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An absolute ruler.
- n. A tyrant; a despot.
- n. An ancient Roman magistrate appointed temporarily to deal with an immediate crisis or emergency.
- n. One who dictates: These initials are those of the dictator of the letter.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A person possessing unlimited powers of government; an absolute ruler. In ancient Rome dictators were appointed in times of exigency and distress for a term of six months; and there were also dictators with powers limited to specific acts. In later times usurpers have often made themselves dictators, and dictatorial powers have been expressly conferred. The rulers of Paraguay bore the title of dictator for many years, and those of several other Spanish-American countries have done so for longer or shorter periods.
- n. A person invested with or exercising absolute authority of any kind; one who assumes to control or prescribe the actions of others; one who dictates.
Wiktionary
- n. Originally, 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
- n. A totalitarian leader of a country, nation, or government
- n. A tyrannical boss, or authority figure
- n. A person who dictates text (e.g. letters to a clerk)
- n. A ruler or Führer, the highest level of authority.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who dictates; one who prescribes rules and maxims authoritatively for the direction of others.
- n. One invested with absolute authority; especially, a magistrate created in times of exigence and distress, and invested with unlimited power.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a speaker who dictates to a secretary or a recording machine
- n. a person who behaves in a tyrannical manner
- n. a ruler who is unconstrained by law
Etymologies
- From Latin dictātor ("a chief magistrate"), from dictō ("dictate, prescribe"), from dīcō ("say, speak"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“In seasons of great and imminent danger to the commonwealth, it was the custom of the Romans to appoint what they called a dictator, that is, a supreme executive, who was clothed with absolute and unlimited powers; and it devolved on him to save the state from the threatened ruin by the most prompt and energetic action.”
“Less than nine years past the end of Saddam Hussein's brutal reign, the word dictator springs easily to the lips of Iraqis, many of whom question Western-style democracy and readily admit that they believe their country needs a strongman leader.”
“With this in mind, having multiple characters use the word "dictator" to refer to Chavez without any real discussion seems simplistic at best.”
“Were people intrigued by the plight of the individual versus society, as depicted with such pessimistic intensity by Orwell, supposed to be drawn into the world of Slan, where it turns out that the dictator is a good guy, just a little misunderstood?”
MIND MELD: What You Should Know About Speculative Fiction and Mainstream Acceptance (Part 2)
“I am not sure you can call this a liberal agenda as I am a die hard lib and a dictator is a dictator, pure and simple and most famous dictators shower outright abuse of the people they were suppose to govern.”
“Being named after a dictator is about all that needs to be said about this guy, and all those who wish to share the name.”
“The powers of a Roman dictator were infinite but only for six months and under very well defined conditions - not at all like what we call a dictator today.”
Hannity's New TV Show Bestows A Weekly "Enemy Of The State" Award
““Rebuilding a nation devastated by a dictator is a large undertaking,””
“WHAT?????????? “Rebuilding a nation devastated by a dictator is a large undertaking, †the president said. “It†™ s even harder when terrorists are trying to blow up that which the Iraqis are trying to build. —
“Dont you know that this dictator is always right and would never do anything wrong?”
Think Progress » MUSIC VIDEO: McClellan Says Bobby Brown Exemption Trumps White House Policy
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘dictator’.
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POL - people in power
daredevil, tzar, king, boss, master, commander, chief, kingpin, top banana, bigwig, big cheese, big wheel and 452 more...
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POL - What is Mitt talking about?
Key terms from Mitt Romney's election campaign
good and generous..., hard fought election, go back to work, optimistic and po..., confident in the ..., optimism, uniquely American, nation of immigrants, want a better life, life in that plac..., pursuit of the ri..., richness of this ... and 369 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...
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GRE AWA
escalating, vehement, vehemence, hostility, paparazzi, regime, irrespective, scoop, exaggerated, overblown, unfetter, scrupulous and 272 more...
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Take Me To Your Whosit
About leaders, particularly the authority-figure at the top of the tree.
leader, chief, boss, cap'n, executive, president, head, tsar, alpha male, alpha female, conductor, dean and 127 more...
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European World Systems
europe, colonization, defense, barter, feudalism, gunpowder, technology, guns, domination, lords, monarchs, transition and 250 more...
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Words That Sound Dirty but Really Aren't
annals, assassinate, bisect, bubbly, caucus, caulk, colloquialism, concoct, condominium, congeal, congenital, convex and 131 more...
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How to Make a Facebook Game
Step #1: Pick a noun
Step #2: Add "Wars" after it
Step #3:
Step #4: PROFIT!mafia, mob, fashion, dragon, dope, gang, space, parking, dictator, robot, kingdom, gangster and 40 more...
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My Least Favourite Words
morose, neurotic, paperwork, ruminate, litigation, gloom, depression, despair, dictator, politics, procrastination, reorganisation and 72 more...
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I like it. I like it a lot.
a list of words that I know already, but have a strange attraction to.
roly-poly, womanly, humdrum, hunky-dory, chubby, cookie, chocolate, cake, fiddlesticks, butyraceous, defiant, infertility and 3 more...
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Jutland's Words
carrel, sadducean, antiphoner, ophidia, demesne, bolus, coronae, patristic, uncial, constantinople, lavender, spoof and 61 more...
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rulers, leaders & politicians
caliph, samurai, dynastic, captain, queen, potentate, mikado, kaiser, sovereign, majesty, shah, raja and 46 more...
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The Great Fiction
Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.--Frédéric Bastiat, Essays on Political Economy, 1872
democracy, confederacy, republic, monarchy, theocracy, oligarchy, representation, senate, legislature, assembly, deliberative, court and 37 more...
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The Government Totally Sucks
With all due respect to Tenacious D for the title.
jamahiriya, apartheid, autocratic, plutocracy, theocracy, aristocracy, logocracy, republic, dictator, fascist, meritocracy, tribe and 22 more...
Tweets
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