diktat

Borrowed from German Diktat, from Latin dictātum (“that which has been dictated”), from the perfect passive participle of dictō (“dictate”). Doublet of dictate.

• Rhymes: -ɒt
• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪkˈtɑːt/, /ˈdɪktɑːt/, /ˈdɪktæt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /dɪkˈtɑt/

diktat (plural diktats)

1. a harsh penalty or settlement imposed upon a defeated party by the victor
2. a dogmatic decree or command, especially issued by one who rules without popular consent

   Synonym: ukase

   • 1964 May, “News and Comment: Minister hamstrings BR workshops”, in Modern Railways, page 291:

     Whatever the pressures that have invoked the Minister's diktat, the outcome is Gilbertian.

   • 1982, Steven L. Sampson, The Planners and the Peasants:

     Today, regional diktat is now supplemented (though not wholly replaced) by other means of recruiting elites.

   • 2005, Vitaly Naumkin, Radical Islam in Central Asia: Between Pen and Rifle, page 179:

     It should be noted that Saddam's power was held up by fear and diktat.

   • 2018, Julian Sanchez, “Brand Loyalty”, in Just Security:

     Trump—according not to the paranoid fears of his opponents, but his own professed desires—would have the government’s law enforcement institutions act as political weapons, aimed by his diktat.

   • 2025 April 17, Linda Feldmann, “How Donald Trump is upending American culture”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

     But amid all the disruption and norm-breaking, it’s Mr. Trump’s apparently keen interest in shaping American culture that may be most intriguing. To critics, it’s nothing less than a sign of his authoritarian bent – reminiscent of the Stalin-esque playbook that made government diktats over artistic expression a feature of the old Soviet Union.

• dictate

• dictat

• Audio:

  (file)

diktat m (plural diktats)

1. diktat

• → Turkish: dikta

• “diktat”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From Dutch dictaat, from Latin dictātum.

• IPA^(key): [ˈdɪktat]
• Hyphenation: dik‧tat

diktat

1. dictated text
2. prepared text
3. (extension) note, a brief piece of writing intended to assist the memory; a memorandum; a minute
4. (education) lecture note

• “diktat” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

From Latin dictātum.

• IPA^(key): /dɪkˈtɑːt/

diktat m (definite singular diktaten, indefinite plural diktater, definite plural diktatene)

1. dictation, dictating
2. a text which is written after hearing
3. (education) an orthography exam in which students write down what the teacher says

diktat n (definite singular diktatet, uncountable)

1. something which is dictated; orders

• dikt
• diktere

• “diktat” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Latin dictātum.

• IPA^(key): /dɪkˈtɑːt/

diktat m (definite singular diktaten, indefinite plural diktatar, definite plural diktatane)

1. dictation, dictating
2. a text which is written after hearing
3. (education) an orthography exam in which students write down what the teacher says

diktat n (definite singular diktatet, uncountable)

1. something which is dictated; orders

• dikt
• diktere

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• IPA^(key): /²dɪk.tɑ(t)/

diktat

1. supine of dikta
   • 1861, Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Ferdaminni fraa Sumaren 1860, volume II, page 30:

     Kvat er det ikki for Usans Wergeland hever diktat um Konge og Dronning?

     What kind of nonsense is it not that Wergeland has versified about King and Queen?

• “diktat” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

dìktāt m inan (Cyrillic spelling дѝкта̄т)

1. dictate

diktat m (plural diktats)

1. diktat

Borrowed from Latin dictātum, from dictāre. Cognate with English dictate, German Diktat, French dictée.

diktat n

1. diktat

• diktera
• diktator
• diktatur

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

diktat

1. supine of dikta

diktat

1. indefinite neuter singular of diktad