DICTATES Synonyms: 46 Similar and Opposite Words

dictates 1 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of dictate

as in orders

to request the doing of by virtue of one's authority dictated that the terms of surrender be negotiated by his senior staff

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dictates

2 of 2

noun

plural of dictate

as in instructions

a statement of what to do that must be obeyed by those concerned a starchily worded dictate from on high concerning the company's dress code

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of dictates

Verb

But where once engineers could use any raw ingredients at their disposal to make parts with almost supernatural structural abilities, the climate crisis dictates a change of strategy. —

Caitlin Kennedy, Scientific American, 25 Apr. 2026 That’s because the federal tax code, in section 280E, dictates that companies working with Schedule I or Schedule II substances are prohibited from deducting many standard business expenses. —

Tiney Ricciardi, Denver Post, 24 Apr. 2026 Homes here are often held for decades and frequently pass quietly, introduced to the market when timing, rather than necessity, dictates a change. —

Mark David, Robb Report, 24 Apr. 2026 If the formula dictates that a team is eligible for more than four picks, the four highest selections are awarded. —

Daniel Popper, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2026 The budget rule dictates that when oil goes above a certain price, excess revenues are saved in a rainy-day fund for use in leaner times, to smooth out volatility. —

J.d. Capelouto, semafor.com, 20 Apr. 2026 However, Chapa noted the council still dictates policy and could create any new department at its discretion. —

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 Apr. 2026 Even in a do-or-die game where the unwritten rule dictates that absolutely anything goes, these Dubs can only go so far. —

Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 15 Apr. 2026 Exact taxation rules are found in the Internal Revenue Code, which also dictates how the Internal Revenue Service can operate and use citizen's personal information. —

Irene Wright, USA Today, 14 Apr. 2026

Noun

The project’s financing dictates that the market-rate tower has separate ownership from the affordable segment, Kingston said. —

Nick Wooten, Dallas Morning News, 2 Apr. 2026 This cut comes with dictates—jaw-length or shorter, most often paired with bangs—but also leaves room for personalized play. —

Calin Van Paris, InStyle, 1 Apr. 2026 The girls decide to go and look for a traditional skirt for Qihuo to commemorate this rite of passage, as tradition dictates. —

Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 15 Mar. 2026 There is perhaps no sport that is more in thrall to the dictates of orthodoxy than baseball, which is so steeped in tradition that a visit to the ballpark is often a bit like hopping into a time machine. —

Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 13 Mar. 2026 Beloved ’s revenant defies the dictates of realism according to which a character is a bounded individual. —

Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 17 Feb. 2026 Local control ensures that voting reflects the needs of the community, not the dictates of a federal bureaucracy. —

Chicago Tribune, 13 Feb. 2026 The deregulatory agenda, the most significant since President Ronald Reagan’s, has begun to liberate households and businesses from the dictates of Washington’s bureaucracy. —

Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 3 Feb. 2026 The Institute for Postnatural Studies does not aim to conform to the dictates of traditional academia, as its name might imply. —

Catherine Taft, Artforum, 1 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for dictates

Verb

Federal officials have sent a letter that orders the corporate owner in the public-private partnership at Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex to bring an engineer on site, restore the powerhouse operations and provide an assessment of the conditions.

— Paula Wethington, CBS News, 24 Apr. 2026
Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, supreme commander of the Luftwaffe, Hitler’s second in command, and the highest-ranking surviving Nazi leader, steps out of the car, stands at attention to announce his surrender, and orders the soldiers to carry his bags.

— Alice Kaplan, The New York Review of Books, 4 Apr. 2026