In diktat you might recognize the English word dictate. Both words derive from Latin dictare ("to assert" or "to dictate"), a form of dicere ("to say"). Diktat passed through German where it meant "something dictated." Dictate can mean both "to speak words aloud to be transcribed" and "to issue a command or injunction," the sense of the word that gave us dictator. Germans, beginning with Prince Wilhelm, used diktat in a negative way to refer to the Treaty of Versailles, the document ending World War I. Today diktat can be used as a critical term for even minor regulations felt to be unfair or authoritarian.
The company president issued a diktat that employees may not wear jeans to work. a democratic government has to be something wanted by that nation's citizens and not something created by a foreign power's diktat
Recent Examples on the WebThis was an obtuse and unpoetic diktat, a showy way to miss the fact that a song’s history—its use over time, by real people, inspired by the exigencies of ritual and action—can inform its meaning more than its mere lyrics ever could. Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 15 July 2022 In Spain, even though AVMS has not been fully implemented, there is a sense that streamers are relenting on their all-rights diktat. Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 2 Apr. 2022 Bowser is far from the first official to apparently flout her own pandemic diktat, and each new story like this invites public revolt. Bonnie Kristian, The Week, 2 Aug. 2021 Nothing brings Chinatown together quite like the sense that the city’s leaders are governing by diktat. Esther Wang, Curbed, 17 Dec. 2021 This would permit a very direct route to dictatorship: amend it so that any diktat of the President is automatically an amendment. Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 26 Nov. 2021 In contrast to Kering's company-wide diktat, its larger rival LVMH is leaving the decision up to each individual brand's creative director. Phil Wahba, Fortune, 24 Sep. 2021 The latest evidence is the 5-4 ruling late Friday slapping down another California pandemic diktat on the freedom of worship. The Editorial Board, WSJ, 11 Apr. 2021 Officials from Britain, Germany, Italy, and France have complained that despite Biden’s promises of consultation, there has been more diktat than conversation on Afghanistan.BostonGlobe.com, 23 Aug. 2021 See More
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from German Diktat "imposition, command," borrowed from Medieval Latin dictātum — more at dictate entry 2