dictator

English

Alternative forms

• dictatour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin dictātor (“a chief magistrate”), from dictō (“dictate, prescribe”), from dīcō (“say, speak”). By surface analysis, dictate +‎ -or, literally “one who dictates”.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtə(ɹ)

Noun

dictator (plural dictators)

1. A totalitarian leader of a country, nation, or government.
   • 1971, Lyndon Johnson, “A Time of Testing: Crises in the Caribbean”, in The Vantage Point‎^[1], Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 188:

     The Dominicans had lived for thirty years under the iron-fisted rule of dictator Leonidas Trujillo. During those years, which ended with Trujillo's assassination in 1961, those who opposed Trujillo had three choices: to go into exile, to go underground, or to remain quiet. Most Dominicans had chosen the third course.

   • 2019, (Existential Comics), 29 January, 9:27 AM Tweet:

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

   • 2023 June 21, Trevor Hunnicutt, Ryan Woo, quoting Joe Biden, “China hits back after Biden calls Xi a 'dictator'”, in Reuters‎^[2], archived from the original on 22 June 2023:

     "The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it was he didn't know it was there," Biden said.
     "That's a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn't know what happened. That wasn't supposed to be going where it was. It was blown off course," Biden said.

2. (history) 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. Misspelling of dictater.

Derived terms

• dictatress
• petro-dictator
• tin-pot dictator
• tinpot dictator

 

Related terms

• dictate
• dictatorial
• dictatorship
• dictatrix

 

Translations

totalitarian leader of a dictatorship

• Albanian: diktator (sq) m, diktatore f
• Arabic: دِكْتَاتُور m (diktātūr), دِكْتَاتُورَة f (diktātūra)
• Armenian: բռնապետ (hy) (bṙnapet), դիկտատոր (hy) (diktator)
• Azerbaijani: diktator
• Belarusian: дыкта́тар m (dyktátar), дыкта́тарка f (dyktátarka)
• Bengali: একনায়ক (bn) (eknaẏok)
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} diktatour m
• Bube: öpippa
• Bulgarian: дикта́тор (bg) m (diktátor), дикта́торка f (diktátorka)
• Burmese: အာဏာရှင် (my) (anahrang), သက်ဦးဆံပိုင် (my) (sak-u:hcampuing)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 獨裁者／独裁者 (zh) (dúcáizhě)

• Czech: diktátor (cs) m, diktátorka f
• Danish: diktator (da) c
• Dutch: dictator (nl) m
• Esperanto: diktatoro
• Estonian: diktaator
• Finnish: diktaattori (fi)
• French: dictateur (fr) m, dictatrice (fr) f
• Galician: ditador (gl) m
• Georgian: დიქტატორი (dikṭaṭori)
• German: Diktator (de) m, Diktatorin (de) f
• Greek: δικτάτορας (el) m (diktátoras)
• Hebrew: דִיקטָטוֹר / דיקטאטור (he) m (diktátor), רוֹדָן (he) m (rodán)
• Hindi: तानाशाह (hi) m (tānāśāh), अधिनायक (hi) m (adhināyak), डिक्टेटर (hi) m (ḍikṭeṭar)
• Hungarian: diktátor (hu)
• Icelandic: einræðisherra (is) m
• Irish: deachtóir (ga) m
• Italian: dittatore (it) m, dittatrice (it) f
• Japanese: 独裁者 (ja) (どくさいしゃ, dokusaisha)
• Kazakh: диктатор (diktator)
• Khmer: អ្នកប្រើអំណាចផ្ដាច់ការ (nĕək praə ʼɑmnaac phdac kaa)
• Korean: 독재자(獨裁者) (ko) (dokjaeja)
• Kyrgyz: диктатор (ky) (diktator)
• Lao: ຜູ້ບົ່ງການ (phū bong kān), ຜູ້ຜະເດັດການ (phū pha det kān)
• Latin: dictātor m
• Latvian: diktators m, diktatore f
• Lithuanian: diktatorius m, diktatorė f
• Macedonian: дикта́тор m (diktátor), дикта́торка f (diktátorka)
• Malay: diktator
• Manx: ardreillagh m, ard-smaghteyder m
• Marathi: हुकूमशहा m (hukūmśahā)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: дарангуйлагч (mn) (darangujlagč)

  Mongolian: ᠳᠠᠷᠤᠩᠭᠤᠢᠯᠠᠭᠴᠢ (daruŋɣuilaɣči)

• Norman: dictateur m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: diktator m

• Pashto: ديکتاتور (ps) m (diktātor), ډيکټاټور m (ḍikṭaṭor)
• Persian: دیکْتاتور (fa) (diktâtor)
• Polish: dyktator (pl) m, dyktatorka f
• Portuguese: ditador (pt) m, ditadora f
• Romanian: dictator (ro) m
• Russian: дикта́тор (ru) m (diktátor)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дѝкта̄тор m, дѝкта̄торица f, дѝкта̄то̄рка f

  Roman: dìktātor (sh) m, dìktātorica (sh) f, dìktātōrka f

• Sicilian: dittaturi m
• Slovak: diktátor m, diktátorka f
• Slovene: diktator (sl) m, diktatorka f
• Spanish: dictador (es) m, dictadora f
• Swahili: dikteta (sw) class 5/6
• Swedish: diktator (sv) c
• Tagalog: diktador
• Tajik: диктатор (tg) (diktator)
• Tatar: диктатор (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), дикта́торка f (dyktátorka)
• Urdu: ڈِکْٹیٹَر m (ḍikṭeṭar), آمِر (ur) m (āmir), تاناشاہ m (tānāśāh)
• Uyghur: دىكتاتور (diktator)
• Uzbek: diktator (uz)
• Vietnamese: kẻ độc tài (仉獨裁), nhà độc tài (伽獨裁)
• Yiddish: דיקטאַטאָר m (diktator)

(historical) Ancient Roman magistrate

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 獨裁官／独裁官 (dúcái guān)

• Danish: diktator (da) c
• Greek:

  Ancient: δικτάτωρ m (diktátōr)

• Latin: dictātor m
• Sicilian: dittaturi m

tyrannical boss, or authority figure

• Finnish: diktaattori (fi)
• Greek: δικτάτορας (el) m (diktátoras)
• Portuguese: ditador (pt) m
• Russian: дикта́тор (ru) m (diktátor)
• Sicilian: dittaturi m, rais m, capurali m
• Swahili: dikteta (sw) class 5/6
• Swedish: diktator (sv) c, envåldshärskare (sv) c

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

 

Latin

Etymology

From dictō (“I dictate”) +‎ -tor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /dikˈtaː.tor/, [d̪ɪkˈt̪äːt̪ɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /dikˈta.tor/, [d̪ikˈt̪äːt̪or]

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

• dictātrīx
• dictātōrius
• dictātūra

 

Related terms

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

 

Descendants

• Catalan: dictador
• English: dictator
• French: dictateur
• Galician: ditador
• Italian: dittatore
• Piedmontese: ditator
• Polish: dyktator
• Portuguese: ditador
• Romanian: dictator
• Russian: дикта́тор (diktátor)
• Sicilian: dittaturi
• Spanish: dictador
• German: Diktator

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 with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• dictator in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[3], 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

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French dictateur, Latin dictātor. Equivalent to dicta +‎ -tor.

Noun

dictator m (plural dictatori)

1. dictator

Related terms

• dictat
• dictatură