dictator
noun
Simple meaning
A totalitarian leader of a country, nation.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihktayterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪkˈteɪtɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A totalitarian leader of a country, nation, or government.
A tyrannical boss or authority figure.
history
A magistrate without colleague in republican Ancient Rome, who held full executive authority for a term granted by the Senate, typically to conduct a war.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A totalitarian leader of a country, nation, or government.
Used this way, dictator is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It turns up most in government or politics contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Government/politics
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use dictator
- “My boss is a dictator who makes everyone work overtime.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.).
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- consulnoun
- dictatorshipnoun
- husseinnoun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.