How to Use dictate in a Sentence

dictate

1 of 2 verb

• The basket's function dictates its size and shape.
• Tradition dictates that the youngest member should go first.
• They insisted on being able to dictate the terms of surrender.
• She's dictating a letter to her secretary.
• If two pieces land on the same spot, the passage cards dictate who gets points.
  — Matthew Hutson, The New Yorker, 21 Dec. 2023
• But there’s always one song that for me dictates what the rest of it’s going to sound like.
  — Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Nov. 2023
• Face rollers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, which can dictate where and how they're used on the face.
  — Deanna Pai, Glamour, 6 Oct. 2023
• Logic would dictate a No. 1 seed should make quick work of a No. 8, but ...
  — Scott Horner, The Indianapolis Star, 1 June 2023
• Some think the decision should be theirs, not a school dictate.
  — Donna St. George, Anchorage Daily News, 10 May 2023
• The new set of laws would create zones in the city that dictate where and when food trucks can operate.
  — Jordyn Noennig, Journal Sentinel, 15 May 2023
• Then, if there is a profit, dictate how to split that profit between the three of you.
  — Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin, Chicago Tribune, 14 Sep. 2023
• But at the end of the day, there was a lot more plays than that last play that really dictated the outcome of the game.
  — Mike Harley, arkansasonline.com, 24 Dec. 2023
• Often the survival of male lions will be dictated by the size and strength of their coalitions, and the make up of the lion landscape at large.
  — Alexander Richard Braczkowski, Discover Magazine, 14 Aug. 2023
• Two factors will dictate whether or not your child is ready to graduate to a bigger bike.
  — Dorian Smith-Garcia, Parents, 24 Aug. 2023
• The pace of that movement is dictated by the properties of the neuronal circuits that control them.
  — Quanta Magazine, 11 Mar. 2024
• Its role is to dictate whether glucose is used, stored in muscles and the liver, or put into fat cells to save for later.
  — Hannah Coates, Vogue, 27 Oct. 2023
• Essentially, the pin alone dictates what younger viewers can and cannot watch.
  — Jonathon Norcross, Peoplemag, 4 Aug. 2023
• Such milestones don’t mean much in a market that’s supposed to be dictated by math and dollars and cents.
  — Stan Choe, Fortune, 9 Feb. 2024
• Special event parking for the Muni Lot – which dictates the fee paid by Browns tailgaters – is poised to jump from $30 per day, to as much as $50.
  — Courtney Astolfi, cleveland, 18 Sep. 2023
• And any time mood and conditions dictate, a push on the right pedal can serve up a headlong rush into the distant scenery.
  — Kevin Smith, Car and Driver, 24 June 2023
• After all, everyone knows that a good night's sleep dictates a whole lot about your health and wellness.
  — Addison Aloian, Women's Health, 15 June 2023
• To some extent, the level of dignity and amount of choice each person has is dictated by his class.
  — Pratham Khurana, The New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2023
• Sounds to me like communism where some comrades dictate based on their laws how what is managed which way.
  — Kelly G. Richardson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Sep. 2023
• The market will dictate the financial worth of workers, though.
  — Joseph Goodman | [e-mail], al, 31 May 2023
• This mindset seems to fly in the face of tradition, which has always dictated that burning the midnight oils gets the most out of people.
  — Bypaolo Confino, Fortune, 15 June 2023
• More than that, Hui dictated early play with her court movement.
  — Glae Thien, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Aug. 2023
• Rules dictate that presenters must be Hall of Fame members.
  — Brad Townsend, Dallas News, 9 Aug. 2023
• The hours and minutes that dictate our days are determined by Earth’s rotation.
  — Laura Paddison, CNN, 27 Mar. 2024
• As in the editing room, the filmmaker has also been fortunate enough to not have others dictate his projects.
  — J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 22 Nov. 2023
• Conventional wisdom dictates that Iran does not want a war with the United States.
  — Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2024

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dictate

2 of 2 noun

• The tone and depth of voice dictates which bright neon color lights up each arch.
  — Allison Bagley, Houston Chronicle, 17 Jan. 2018
• This new order was tailored to the dictates of the 9th Circuit's—in my opinion–flawed ruling. . .
  — Emily Jane Fox, The Hive, 16 Mar. 2017
• This new order was tailored to the dictates of the 9th Circuit's—in my opinion–flawed ruling. . . .
  — Emily Jane Fox, vanityfair.com, 16 Mar. 2017
• The religious dictates of Molotschna give men all the power.
  — Sarah Jones, The New Republic, 26 June 2019
• Apart from the dictates of school and business calendars, people don't want to be tied down.
  — Town & Country, 6 Dec. 2012
• The load of cucumbers seized from the Bottom Time was sold as state procedure dictates, Welch said.
  — Zaz Hollander, Anchorage Daily News, 15 Mar. 2018
• While many of these choices feature a high-rise waist, the approach, while flattering, is not a dictate.
  — Calin Van Paris, Peoplemag, 20 Dec. 2022
• The gate agent has supreme power of seating assignments for every flight and dictates who sits where.
  — Christopher Tkaczyk, Travel + Leisure, 16 Mar. 2023
• Essentially, the deal was that the farmer would supply the chicken coop and care for the chickens according to the dictates of the company.
  — Thomas Heath, Washington Post, 12 July 2019
• Her mandate was sounding less like the inspiration of a concerned partner, and more like the dictate of a prison guard.
  — San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Aug. 2021
• Think seeding dictates who wins the state championship?
  — Matt Goul, cleveland, 21 May 2020
• Each airline is a small nation unto itself, with its own schedules and rhythms, but at the end of the day the control tower dictates who comes and goes, and when.
  — Gregory Pardlo, The New Yorker, 12 Feb. 2017
• But that still leaves us time for one more first-round prognostication, which will be freshened through the week as news dictates.
  — Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 24 Apr. 2017
• The dictates of modesty called for floor-length dresses, and fashion demanded a full skirt beneath a tiny waist.
  — Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian, 24 May 2018
• But the mogul has never allowed himself to be hemmed in by the dictates of rationality.
  — Eric Levitz, Daily Intelligencer, 22 June 2017
• At that wedding, the bride, Ethel Chertkof, wore a gown made of champagne silk that, according to the dictates of modesty required by her faith, had a hem that hit below the knee.
  — Mary Carole McCauley, baltimoresun.com, 16 June 2017
• For many, this was a pilgrimage of faith — a kind of rejoinder to the high-tech dictates of hard facts that have left us so little room for magic and mystery.
  — Matt Bradley, NBC News, 28 Aug. 2023
• Jack’s barroom talk is a couple of sour jokes; his discussions with his family and friends are limited to the strictest dictates of the plot.
  — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2020
• As the law of 2018 viral moments dictates, such a good performance must be preserved via the artform of GIFs, and Lopez did not disappoint.
  — Kathryn Lindsay, refinery29.com, 21 May 2018
• Following the dictates of rap stardom, Pras was never timid about showcasing the perks.
  — Michael Ames, Rolling Stone, 12 Mar. 2023
• That is a worthy vision to promote, but it should not be confused with the dictates of free speech, which allows for a messier, more ill-mannered form of public discourse.
  — Thomas Healy, The Atlantic, 18 June 2017
• Currently, the league’s playing manual dictates that players should be on the field during the anthem, but does not require them to stand.
  — Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press, 16 May 2018
• Typically, all members of Congress were forced to take or leave the near-trillion-dollar dictate without time to read the thousands of pages, much less study them.
  — John Brummett, Arkansas Online, 27 Dec. 2020
• The Dutch international dictates the play from the base of the midfield and was a crucial player behind Ajax’s success in the Champions League last year.
  — SI.com, 4 Sep. 2019
• The larger had more than five times the mass of the sun, and physics dictates that something this massive which is generating no starlight to counteract the pull of its gravity must be a black hole.
  — The Economist, 22 Aug. 2019
• The film pulses with sorrow and outrage over the absurdity of tyrannical dictates that crush souls.
  — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 May 2023
• Most of all, Boseman smoothly presides over the movie with poise and command, a fine movie star finally unencumbered by both the dictates of Marvel and the pressures of the biopic.
  — Jake Coyle, Detroit Free Press, 22 Nov. 2019
• No businessman ever got rich running his shop solely by the dictates of his customers.
  — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 11 Jan. 2018
• Eventually, Frerichs acceded to their fashion dictates: a shalwar kameez, a cheap blue sport coat, and his first pair of sneakers in years, that were two sizes too big.
  — Michael Ames, The New Yorker, 8 Mar. 2023
• Continuing to run towards the shooter as their training dictates, the officers were forced to step over a victim.
  — Mirna Alsharif, NBC News, 4 Apr. 2023

Last Updated: 3 May 2024