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

His mind does not discriminate between the ipse dixit of the Almighty and external authority in matters relating to dogma.

From The Defects of the Negro Church The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 10 by Faduma, Orishatukeh

There is great ignorance on this subject, and what is known is generally the ipse dixit of somebody.

From Forty Years in the Wilderness of Pills and Powders Cogitations and Confessions of an Aged Physician by Alcott, William A. (William Andrus)

But, until this organ is established, we have good right to doubt the ipse dixit of self-appointed oracles.

From The Next Step in Religion An Essay toward the Coming Renaissance by Sellars, Roy Wood