diktat

noun

dik·​tat dik-ˈtät 

1

: a harsh settlement unilaterally imposed (as on a defeated nation)

2

: decree, order

Did you know?

In diktat you might recognize the English word dictate. Both words derive from Latin dictare ("to assert" or "to dictate"), a form of dicere ("to say"). Diktat passed through German where it meant "something dictated." Dictate can mean both "to speak words aloud to be transcribed" and "to issue a command or injunction," the sense of the word that gave us dictator. Germans, beginning with Prince Wilhelm, used diktat in a negative way to refer to the Treaty of Versailles, the document ending World War I. Today diktat can be used as a critical term for even minor regulations felt to be unfair or authoritarian.

Synonyms

• bull
• decree
• directive
• edict
• fiat
• rescript
• ruling
• ukase

Examples of diktat in a Sentence

The company president issued a diktat that employees may not wear jeans to work.

a democratic government has to be something wanted by that nation's citizens and not something created by a foreign power's diktat

Recent Examples on the Web

Germany’s urban planners usually bow to the diktat that nothing can be built higher than the church towers. —Zoë Dare Hall, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025

Negotiation is different from bullying and issuing diktats. —Faisal Kutty, Newsweek, 11 Mar. 2025

When The Associated Press refused to go along with his diktat to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, the news organization was barred from covering some events with the president in the Oval Office and on Air Force One. —Maureen Dowd, The Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2025

So, does any of that make this diktat more explainable? —Mark Critchley, The Athletic, 23 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from German Diktat "imposition, command," borrowed from Medieval Latin dictātum — more at dictate entry 2

First Known Use

1933, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for diktat

• begat
• bobcat
• chitchat
• doormat
• ducat
• eclat
• format
• hazmat
• muskrat
• nonfat
• polecat
• thereat

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