obiter dictum
/ˌəʊbɪtə ˈdɪktəm/
"obiter-dictum" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“obiter dictum” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An incidental remark; especially (law) a statement or remark in a court's judgment that is not essential to the disposition of the case.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | obiter dictum |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌəʊbɪtə ˈdɪktəm/ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “obiter dictum” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for obiter dictum is 13 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌəʊbɪtə ˈdɪktəm/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "An incidental remark; especially (law) a statement or remark in a court's judgment that is not essential to the disposition of the case.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for obiter dictum, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin obiter dictum (“something said by the way”). The correct English form is obiter dictum, spelled O-B-I-T-E-R- -D-I-C-T-U-M.
Definition
- 1An incidental remark; especially (law) a statement or remark in a court's judgment that is not essential to the disposition of the case.
Etymology
From Latin obiter dictum (“something said by the way”).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “obiter dictum”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-B-I-T-E-R- -D-I-C-T-U-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌəʊbɪtə ˈdɪktəm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.