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

Let us have something more than the ipse dixit of the Society.

From Thoughts on African Colonization by William Lloyd Garrison

The doctrine of direct creation can merely be asserted, it cannot be argued; the statement once made, there is nothing more to be said; it is an ipse dixit pure and simple.

From Man And His Ancestor A Study In Evolution by Charles Morris

He did not give me any proof, but considering his position, I could not do otherwise than take his ipse dixit for it.

From The Crime of the Century or, The Assassination of Dr. Patrick Henry Cronin by Henry M. Hunt