dictator
dic·ta·tor/ˈdɪkˌteɪtəɹ/noun
dictator is spelled D-I-C-T-A-T-O-R: 8 letters and 3 syllables (dic·ta·tor). It appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, dictator means “An authoritarian leader of a country, nation, or government” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of dictator is dictators.
How many letters and syllables are in dictator?
| Letters | 8: D-I-C-T-A-T-O-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: dic·ta·tor |
| In writing | 4.6 times per million words; the 11,870th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is dictator?
Dictator appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce dictator?
- UK /dɪkˈteɪtə/
- US /ˈdɪkˌteɪtəɹ/
- US [-ɾəɹ]
Dictator has 3 syllables, split dic·ta·tor in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-dictator.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of dictator
- dictators plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dictator mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An authoritarian leader of a country, nation, or government.
- 2
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.
- 3
A tyrannical boss or authority figure.
Wiktionary also records dictator as a common misspelling of another word in some uses; the senses above are its own.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Dictator in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense authoritarian leader of a dictatorship:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | dictateur, dictatrice |
| German | Diktator, Diktatorin |
| Portuguese | ditador, ditadora |
| Spanish | dictador, dictadora |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does dictator come from?
From Latin dictātor (“a chief magistrate”), from dictō (“dictate, prescribe”), from dīcō (“say, speak”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).