Dictum

noun

noun ·2 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An authoritative statement; a dogmatic saying; a maxim, an apothegm.

    "This should not surprise us who know that van Gogh wrote: 'To paint and to love women is incompatible'; van Gogh was right for himself, which does not mean that he was right for everybody, and I will not draw from his dictum the probably incorrect conclusion that 'To paint and to love literature is incompatible.'"

  2. 2
    an authoritative declaration wordnet
  3. 3
    A judicial opinion expressed by judges on points that do not necessarily arise in the case, and are not involved in it.
  4. 4
    an opinion voiced by a judge on a point of law not directly bearing on the case in question and therefore not binding wordnet
  5. 5
    The report of a judgment made by one of the judges who has given it.
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    An arbitrament or award.

Synonyms

All synonyms
pronouncementa priori truthactionadageaddressaffirmance

Example

More examples

"The dictum from that famous case became the basis for a number of important Supreme Court decisions."

Etymology

From Latin dictum (“proverb, maxim”), from dictus (“having been said”), perfect passive participle of dico (“I say”). Compare Spanish dicho (“saying”). Doublet of dict.

Related phrases

Aristotle's dictumJudd's dictumobiter dictum

More for "dictum"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.