dictation

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   The act of speaking words aloud for someone else to write down or type.

   Grammar: Uncountable when talking about the activity; you can say 'do dictation' or 'take dictation' but not 'a dictation' in this sense.

   Patterns

   • take dictation
   • do dictation

   The secretary took dictation from her boss for an hour.

   Doctors used to write notes by dictation, but now they often type directly.

2. 2nouncountable

   A language exercise in which students write down exactly what the teacher reads aloud.

   Grammar: Countable when referring to a particular exercise: 'We had a dictation today.'

   Patterns

   • have a dictation
   • give a dictation

   The teacher gave us a dictation to test our spelling.

   I always make mistakes in dictations when the speaker goes too fast.

3. 3noununcountablecomputing

   Words spoken aloud to be recorded or written down by a machine or software.

   Grammar: Often used with 'voice' or 'speech' to describe technology: 'voice dictation software'.

   Patterns

   • voice dictation
   • dictation software

   She uses voice dictation to send text messages while driving.

   The app's dictation feature turned my speech into an email.

Word forms

Common combinations

take dictation

In the past, assistants had to take dictation in shorthand.

give a dictation

The French teacher gave a short dictation at the start of class.

dictation exercise

We did a dictation exercise to practice listening and writing.

voice dictation

Voice dictation saves time if you can speak clearly.

Synonyms and how they differ

transcription

Transcription usually means writing down recorded speech, often after the fact; dictation is spoken live for someone to write immediately.

shorthand

Shorthand is the fast writing system used to take dictation; it is not the act of speaking itself.

Word family

dictate verb

To speak words for someone to write down, or to give orders.

dictator noun

A ruler with total power, often one who dictates orders.

dictation noun

The act or exercise of writing down spoken words.

Commonly confused: dictation or diction? dictation or dictator?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “dictation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words