# 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”. Compare Old English tictator (“absolute ruler of the Roman Republic”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /dɪkˈteɪtə/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈdɪkˌteɪtəɹ/, [-ɾəɹ]
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪtə(ɹ)
* Hyphenation: dic‧ta‧tor

### Noun

dictator (plural dictators)
* A totalitarian leader of a country, nation, or government.
** 1971, Lyndon Johnson, “A Time of Testing: Crises in the Caribbean”, in The Vantage Point‎, 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, 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.
* (history) A magistrate without colleague in republican Ancient Rome, who held full executive authority for a term granted by the Senate, typically to conduct a war.
* A tyrannical boss or authority figure.
* Misspelling of dictater.

#### Derived terms

* antidictator
* dictatoress
* dictatorless
* dictatorlike
* dictatress
* petro-dictator
* tin-pot dictator, tinpot dictator

#### Related terms

* dictate
* dictatorial
* dictatorship
* dictatrix

#### Descendants

* → Pashto: ديکتاتور (diktātor), ډيکټاټور (ḍikṭaṭor)
* → Swahili: dikteta
* → Urdu: ڈِکْٹیٹَر (ḍikṭeṭar)

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ “dictator, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dictātor.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˌdɪkˈtaː.tɔr/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: dic‧ta‧tor
* Rhymes: -aːtɔr

### Noun

dictator m (plural dictatoren or dictators, diminutive dictatortje n)
* dictator (tyrant, despot)
    Synonyms: despoot, dwingeland, tiran
* (historical) dictator (Roman magistrate with expanded powers)

#### Related terms

* dictaat
* dictatoriaal
* dictatuur

#### Descendants

* Afrikaans: diktator

## Latin
### Etymology

From dictō (“I dictate”) +‎ -tor.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /dikˈtaː.tor/, [d̪ɪkˈt̪äːt̪ɔr]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /dikˈta.tor/, [d̪ikˈt̪äːt̪or]

### Noun

dictātor m (genitive dictātōris); third declension
* an elected chief magistrate
* one who dictates.

#### Declension

Third-declension noun.

#### Derived terms

* dictātōrius
* dictātrīx
* dictātūra

#### Related terms

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

#### Descendants

* Catalan: dictador
* French: dictateur
** → Persian: دیکتاتور (diktâtor)
** → Turkish: diktatör
* Galician: ditador
* Italian: dittatore, dettatore
* Piedmontese: ditator
* Portuguese: ditador
* Romanian: dictator
* Sicilian: dittaturi
* Spanish: dictador
** → Cebuano: diktador
** → Tagalog: diktador
** → Yogad: diktador
* → Albanian: diktator
* → Arabic: دِكْتَاتُور (diktātūr)
* → Bulgarian: дикта́тор (diktátor)
* → Czech: diktátor
* → Danish: diktator
* → Dutch: dictator
** Afrikaans: diktator
* → English: dictator, dictatour (obsolete)
** → Pashto: ديکتاتور (diktātor), ډيکټاټور (ḍikṭaṭor)
** → Swahili: dikteta
** → Urdu: ڈِکْٹیٹَر (ḍikṭeṭar)
* → Esperanto: diktatoro
* → Estonian: diktaator
* → Finnish: diktaattori
* → German: Diktator
* → Greek: δικτάτορας (diktátoras)
* → Hebrew: דִּיקְטָטוּר (diktator)
* → Hungarian: diktátor
* → Latvian: diktators
* → Lithuanian: diktatorius
* → Macedonian: дикта́тор (diktátor)
* → Malay: diktator
* → Norwegian Bokmål: diktator
* → Polish: dyktator
* → Russian: дикта́тор (diktátor)
** → Armenian: դիկտատոր (diktator)
** → Azerbaijani: diktator
** → Belarusian: дыкта́тар (dyktátar)
** → Georgian: დიქტატორი (dikṭaṭori)
** → Kazakh: диктатор (diktator)
** → Kyrgyz: диктатор (diktator)
** → Tajik: диктатор (diktator)
** → Turkmen: diktator
** → Ukrainian: дикта́тор (dyktátor)
** → Uyghur: دىكتاتور (diktator)
** → Uzbek: diktator
* → Serbo-Croatian:
** Cyrillic script: дѝкта̄тор
** Latin script: dìktātor
* → Slovak: diktátor
* → Slovene: diktator
* → Swedish: diktator
* → Yiddish: דיקטאַטאָר (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, 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)
* dictator

#### Related terms

* dictat
* dictatură