DICTATOR

Pronunciation (US):

• DICTATOR (noun)
  The noun DICTATOR has 3 senses:

1. a speaker who dictates to a secretary or a recording machine
2. a ruler who is unconstrained by law
3. a person who behaves in an tyrannical manner

  Familiarity information: DICTATOR used as a noun is uncommon.

• DICTATOR (noun)

Meaning:

A speaker who dictates to a secretary or a recording machine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("dictator" is a kind of...):

speaker; talker; utterer; verbaliser; verbalizer (someone who expresses in language; someone who talks (especially someone who delivers a public speech or someone especially garrulous))

Meaning:

A ruler who is unconstrained by law

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

potentate; dictator

Hypernyms ("dictator" is a kind of...):

ruler; swayer (a person who rules or commands)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dictator"):

shogun (a hereditary military dictator of Japan; the shoguns ruled Japan until the revolution of 1867-68)

strongman (a powerful political figure who rules by the exercise of force or violence)

autocrat; despot; tyrant (a cruel and oppressive dictator)

Instance hyponyms:

Benito Mussolini; Il Duce; Mussolini (Italian fascist dictator (1883-1945))

Adolf Hitler; Der Fuhrer; Hitler (German Nazi dictator during World War II (1889-1945))

El Caudillo; Francisco Franco; Franco; General Franco (Spanish general whose armies took control of Spain in 1939 and who ruled as a dictator until his death (1892-1975))

Baby Doc; Duvalier; Jean-Claude Duvalier (son and successor of Francois Duvalier as president of Haiti; he was overthrown by a mass uprising in 1986 (born in 1951))

Duvalier; Francois Duvalier; Papa Doc (oppressive Haitian dictator (1907-1971))

Tojo; Tojo Eiki; Tojo Hideki (Japanese army officer who initiated the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and who assumed dictatorial control of Japan during World War II; he was subsequently tried and executed as a war criminal (1884-1948))

Meaning:

A person who behaves in an tyrannical manner

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

authoritarian; dictator

Context example:

my boss is a dictator who makes everyone work overtime

Hypernyms ("dictator" is a kind of...):

oppressor (a person of authority who subjects others to undue pressures)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dictator"):

Big Brother (an authoritarian leader and invader of privacy)

disciplinarian; martinet; moralist (someone who demands exact conformity to rules and forms)