ipse dixit

American  

[ip-se dik-sit, ip-see dik-sit] / ˈɪp sɛ ˈdɪk sɪt, ˈɪp si ˈdɪk sɪt /

noun

1. an assertion without proof.

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ipse dixit British  

/ ˈɪpseɪ ˈdɪksɪt /

noun

1. an arbitrary and unsupported assertion

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Etymology

Origin of ipse dixit

< Latin: he himself said it

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ipse dixit

Today’s decision reveals California’s considerable wingspan: That case’s ipse dixit now apparently governs all APA challenges to grant-funding determinations that the government asks us to address in the context of an emergency stay application.

From Slate ● Jan. 3, 2026

I was afraid he might push out, because he was, in a way a human dynamo and, at the time of his supremacy, might have controlled 150,000 votes in Indiana by his "ipse dixit!"

From Time Magazine Archive

I know well that Americans will take the ipse dixit of no man.

From Popery! As it Was and as it Is Also, Auricular Confession; And Popish Nunneries by Hogan, William

Are they so sensitive of their "ipse dixit?"

From The Two Tests: The Supernatural Claims of Christianity Tried by Two of its Own Rules by Lisle, Lionel

Not altogether, for the analogy lends an altogether new authority to the ipse dixit.

From Natural Law in the Spiritual World by Drummond, Henry