dictated
- 1Simple past and past participle of dictate.
The general dictated the terms of surrender to the defeated officers.
Tradition had long dictated who could speak first at the council.
Note
One spelling does double duty here: the simple past (she dictated the letter) and the participle after have or be (the terms were dictated by the victor). All three senses of the verb carry over: commanding, speaking words for someone to write down, and determining an outcome. The passive suits the last especially well, as in a choice dictated by circumstance, where the deciding force is a situation rather than a person.
dictated is a form of dictate
dictate, verb: To speak words aloud so that another person can write or type them down. Full entry
- Spelling
- dictate → dictated: add -d
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /ɪd/, an extra syllable.
Use it in a sentence
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