Word of the Day

: May 30, 2014

diktat

noun dik-TAHT

What It Means

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

2 : decree, order

diktat in Context

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

"In the past month, opposition-party mayors of San Cristobal and San Diego have been ousted and imprisoned by judicial decisions based on government diktats." - Henrique Capriles-Radonski, The Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2014

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.