dictate to

phrasal verb

dictated to; dictating to; dictates to

: to give orders to (someone)

—usually used as (be) dictated to

I resent being dictated to by someone with half my experience.

Examples of dictate to in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Scott Hanselman, a Microsoft vice president who looks after its global developer community, says that in the pre-Nadella era, Microsoft had a reputation for dictating to developers and forcing them to use the company’s entire tech stack. —

Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 20 May 2024 Still, the perception that European powers are dictating to their governments stings. —

Patricia Cohen Jes Aznar, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2024 The main message is: don’t let other people dictate to you how to live your life. —

Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 14 Mar. 2024 My view is: People ought to be allowed to live their lives, without a great Social Engineer hanging over them, and dictating to them. —

Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 3 Jan. 2024 Elliott urged the board to create a world-class school district and not be dictated to by others on how to be adequate. —

Cynthia Howell, arkansasonline.com, 10 Nov. 2023 Silicon Valley firms that were at times defiant are now far more accepting of Indian government dictates to censor material, in particular criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). —

Joseph Menn, Washington Post, 9 Nov. 2023 People could talk about love or even physical desire in letters dictated to someone else and read by others. —

Teresa Nowakowski, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Nov. 2023 There is no reason for someone to dictate to you what do with your body. —

Essence, 30 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dictate to.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.