dictator

[dik-tey-ter, dik-tey-ter]

noun

1. a person exercising absolute power, especially a ruler who has absolute, unrestricted control in a government without hereditary succession.

2. (in ancient Rome) a person invested with supreme authority during a crisis, the regular magistracy being subordinated to him until the crisis was met.

3. a person who authoritatively prescribes conduct, usage, etc..

   a dictator of fashion.

4. a person who dictates, as to a secretary.

dictator

/ dɪkˈteɪtə, dɪkˈteɪtrɪs, ˈdɪktətrɪks /

noun

1. 1. a ruler who is not effectively restricted by a constitution, laws, recognized opposition, etc

   2. an absolute, esp tyrannical, ruler

2. (in ancient Rome) a person appointed during a crisis to exercise supreme authority

3. a person who makes pronouncements, as on conduct, fashion, etc, which are regarded as authoritative

4. a person who behaves in an authoritarian or tyrannical manner

Other Word Forms

• dictatress noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of dictator¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin dictātor, from dictā(re) “to say repeatedly, prescribe, order” ( dictate ) + -tor -tor

Example Sentences

The dictator is clearly nervous, alternating between pleas for “peace” and defiant calls for national resistance.

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After 3½ decades of Francoism, during which, the author reminds us, the dictator “decided that Spaniards were too childish to govern themselves,” there was a palpable sense of a nation orphaned.

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The days when dictators could live in gilded exile with fortunes in secret Swiss bank accounts are mostly over, primarily because of global mechanisms for adjudicating human-rights abuses and tracking ill-gotten gains.

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Hundreds of Spanish fascists marched through Madrid on Friday, a day after the country marked the 50th anniversary of divisive right-wing former dictator Francisco Franco's death.

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“Maybe 4 rather than 5. As a dictator he had many virtues in the long run, and that rates him higher in my estimation.”

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Related Words

• authoritarian 
• autocrat 
• commander 
• despot 
• totalitarian 
• tyrant