dict

Dictionaries Say It All!

The Latin root word dict and its variant dic both mean ‘say.’ Let me ‘say’ a few words about this useful English word root.

Have you ever considered what the origin of the word dictionary actually is? Dictionaries help with the pronunciation, or correct ‘saying’ of words, besides giving other word information such as definitions and word origins. Are you addicted to reading the dictionary? If so, you have ‘said’ or declared your love for it.

Some people try to predict events before they happen, thereby ‘saying’ what will occur before they actually do. The prediction is often wrong, thus is contradicted or ‘spoken’ against by what actually happens.

Did your school have a valedictorian who ‘said’ the farewell address at your high school graduation? If so, she may have dictated or ‘said’ her speech to a friend, who wrote it out for her. The speech itself was probably dedicated or ‘said’ for the members of her graduating class.

A verdict is the truth ‘said’ by a jury who determines whether a defendant put on trial in a court of law is innocent or guilty. If the defendant is vindicated, he is ‘said’ to be free of all charges that had been placed against him. The jury may just as well, however, indicate or ‘say’ that he is guilty!

Only the unwise would question what a dictator ‘says,’ for he gets the final ‘say’ in everything. In fact, speaking up in such a way might put you in quite the predicament or dangerous situation, for you would have ‘said’ something before you thought about what its consequences might entail!

I have now dedicated quite enough time to ‘saying’ things about the root words dict and dic. But go ahead and thumb through your dictionary and see how many more words it indicates have this useful root!

1. dictionary: tells how to ‘say’ words
2. addict: ‘speaks’ heavily towards something
3. predict: ‘say’ beforehand
4. contradict: ‘say’ against
5. valedictorian: one who ‘says’ farewell
6. dictate: ‘say’ words to another
7. dedicate: to ‘say’ for another
8. verdict: ‘speaking’ of the truth
9. vindicate: ‘say’ to be free from something
10. indicate: ‘say’ to make known
11. dictator: ‘sayer’ of rules
12. predicament: result when one ‘speaks’ too quickly, or before she should

Usage

• interdict

  An interdict is an official order that prevents someone from doing something.

• edict

  An edict is an official order or command given by a government or someone in authority.

• dictum

  A dictum is a saying that people often repeat because it says something interesting or wise about a subject.

• condition

  The condition of something is how it is right now or the shape that it is in.

• predict

  When you predict something, you say what is going to happen in the future.

• addict

  to cause (someone or oneself) to become dependent (on something, especially a narcotic drug)

• addictive

  causing or characterized by addiction

• benediction

  the act of praying for divine protection

• contradict

  be in contradiction with

• dictate

  issue commands or orders for

• dictation

  an authoritative direction or instruction to do something

• dictator

  a speaker who dictates to a secretary or a recording machine

• dictatorial

  of or characteristic of a dictator

• diction

  the articulation of speech regarded from the point of view of its intelligibility to the audience

• dictionary

  a reference book containing an alphabetical list of words with information about them

• indictment

  a formal document written for a prosecuting attorney charging a person with some offense

• interdiction

  authoritative prohibition

• jurisdiction

  (law) the right and power to interpret and apply the law

• malediction

  the act of calling down a curse that invokes evil (and usually serves as an insult)

• predictability

  the quality of being predictable

• predictor

  someone who makes predictions of the future (usually on the basis of special knowledge)

• valediction

  a farewell oration (especially one delivered during graduation exercises by an outstanding member of a graduating class)

• valedictorian

  the student with the best grades who usually delivers the valedictory address at commencement

• valedictory

  of or relating to an occasion or expression of farewell

• verdict

  (law) the findings of a jury on issues of fact submitted to it for decision