Meanings
plural dictatures
- obsoleteOffice of a dictator; dictatorship.
it was in Lucius Syila, to resigne his Dictature
1605, Francis Bacon, “(please specify |book=1 or 2)”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], →OCLC1 more example
The impressiveness of the aspect of Edinburgh to its visitors is thus not merely pictorial. […] See the hill-fort defended by lake and forest, becoming "castrum puellarum," becoming a Roman and an Arthurian citadel, a mediaeval stronghold of innumerable sieges, a centre of autocratic and military dictatures, oligarchic governments, at length a museum of the past.
1905, Sir Patrick Geddes, “Civics: as Applied Sociology”, in B-The Historic Survey Of Cities, Sociological Society, page 109
Origin
- Classical Latindictātūra
- Middle Frenchdictature
- Middle Englishdictature
- Englishdictature
From Middle English dictature, from Middle French dictature and its etymon Classical Latin dictātūra. By surface analysis, dictate + -ure.
More words from Middle English, Middle French, Classical Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
dictature. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dictature
“dictature.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dictature. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dictature,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dictature.
Source: dictature on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.