dictator

noun

dic·​ta·​tor ˈdik-ˌtā-tər 

dik-ˈtā-

1

a

: a person granted absolute emergency power

especially, history : one appointed by the senate (see senate sense 1b) of ancient Rome

b

: one holding complete autocratic control : a person with unlimited governmental power

c

: one ruling in an absolute (see absolute sense 2) and often oppressive way

fascist dictators

2

: one who says or reads something for a person to transcribe or for a machine to record : one that dictates (see dictate entry 1 sense 1)

Synonyms of dictator

• tyrant

Examples of dictator in a Sentence

The country was ruled by a military dictator.

the dictator had a fierce stranglehold on the country, keeping its people in poverty and ignorance

Recent Examples on the Web

Naval engineers built elegant streets lined with glass balconies that became the envy of northwestern Spain, and more than a century later, Spain’s future dictator, Francisco Franco, the son of a naval officer, was born there. — Jason Horowitz, New York Times, 28 Oct. 2026

China did not find anything funny about the French star laughing at a meme of Mao, the communist dictator whose regime resulted in tens of millions of deaths. — Mark Harris Outkick, FOXNews.com, 28 Oct. 2026

Even Mbappé’s French teammate Ousmane Dembélé made a joke about the moniker during the 2026 World Cup, referring to Mbappé as Mobut after Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator who ruled the Democratic Republic of Congo for three decades. — Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 28 Oct. 2026

In June, Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited Pyongyang without publicly mentioning the dictator’s nuclear weapons program. — Dan Blumenthal, Washington Post, 27 Oct. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English dictatour, borrowed from Latin dictātor, from dictāre "to say repeatedly, speak aloud words to be transcribed by another, issue as an order" + -tor, agent suffix — more at dictate entry 1

Note: Though formally a derivative of dictāre, the noun dictātor is attested perhaps two centuries earlier in Latin and may be an independent formation, though the model for it is not clear; the sense "issue as an order" of dictāre may reflect influence of dictātor. The form tictator used in the Old English translation of Orosius's Historiae Adversum Paganos had no subsequent use.

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for dictator

• creator
• curator
• debater
• deflator
• dilator
• equator
• locator
• piscator
• pronator
• relator
• rotator
• testator

Kids Definition

dictator

noun

dic·​ta·​tor ˈdik-ˌtāt-ər 

dik-ˈtāt-ər

1

: a person who rules with total authority and often in a cruel or brutal manner

2

: one that dictates

dictatorial

ˌdik-tə-ˈtōr-ē-əl, 

-tȯr-

adjective

dictatorially

-ē-ə-lē

adverb

dictatorialness noun