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

Example Sentences

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

For many, India is just too vast and various ever to succumb to some unitary nationalist diktat. —Roger Cohen, BostonGlobe.com, 1 Jan. 2023

As long as this Russian diktat prevails in the occupied territories of Ukraine, no citizen is safe. —Jon Gambrell And Adam Schreck, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Sep. 2022

For many, India is just too vast and various ever to succumb to some unitary nationalist diktat. —Roger Cohen, BostonGlobe.com, 1 Jan. 2023

By government diktat, I was required to pay for the interpreter’s service, including travel, which always exceeded what Medicare or Medicaid paid for my services. —WSJ, 30 Dec. 2022

For many, India is just too vast and various ever to succumb to some unitary nationalist diktat. —Roger Cohen, BostonGlobe.com, 1 Jan. 2023

For many, India is just too vast and various ever to succumb to some unitary nationalist diktat. —Roger Cohen, BostonGlobe.com, 1 Jan. 2023

For many, India is just too vast and various ever to succumb to some unitary nationalist diktat. —Roger Cohen Mauricio Lima, New York Times, 31 Dec. 2022

The stock exchange, likely driven by fear, didn’t object to the use of government diktat to force Next Digital into liquidation, costing its shareholders their equity. —L. Gordon Crovitz And Mark L. Clifford, WSJ, 15 Nov. 2022

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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

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