- dictatorial
- dictatorial, magisterial, authoritarian, dogmatic, doctrinaire, oracular are comparable in the sense of imposing or having the manner or disposition of one who imposes his will or his opinions upon others.Dictatorial implies the powers of a dictator, but it has acquired so strong an implication of the assumption of such power that it often stresses autocratic or high-handed methods and a domineering, overbearing temper{
a captain who has been entrusted with dictatorial power— Macaulay
}{he is . . . very learned, very dictatorial, very knock-me-down— Mitford
}Magisterial derives its chief implications from its reference to a magistrate or, more often, to a schoolmaster. It seldom implies an assumption of power, high-handedness, or a bad temper but does suggest excessive use or display of the powers or prerogatives associated with the offices of a magistrate or schoolmaster (as in controlling and disciplining or in enforcing the acceptance of one's opinions){we are not magisterial in opinions, nor... obtrude our notions on any man— Browne
}Magisterial is applied also to opinions or ideas which are so deeply impressed on the mind, especially the popular mind, that they cannot easily be eradicated{the "possible," as something less than the actual and more than the wholly unreal, is another of these magisterial notions of common sense— James
}Authoritarian is used chiefly in reference to states or governments (for this use see TOTALITARIAN), to churches, to bodies, persons, or their policies or attitudes. It implies assumption of one's own (or another's) power to exact obedience or of the right to determine what others should believe or do; often it suggests an opposition to liberal or libertarian and sometimes to anarchic or anarchistic{authoritarian system of education
}{the authoritarian type of mind
}{the decline of authoritarian control and the rapid changes in our ways of living have made changes in our education imperative— Christian Century
}{in an authoritarian regime, on the other hand, it is usual to impose stringent tests of partisanship— Robson
}Dogmatic implies the attitude of an authoritative or authoritarian teacher or preacher and the laying down of principles or dogmas as true and beyond dispute{art is never dogmatic, holds no brief for itself—you may take it or you may leave it— Galsworthy
}{now physics is, or should be, undogmatic-, mathematics is, and must be, dogmatic. No mathematician is infallible; he may make mistakes; but he must not hedge. Even in this age which dislikes dogma, there is no demand for an un dogmatic edition of Euclid— Eddington
}Dogmatic may imply depreciatively an assertive and sometimes an arrogant attitude that discourages if it does not inhibit debate{Mr. Raycie made no pretence to book- learning. . . . But on matters of art he was dogmatic and explicit, prepared to justify his opinions— Wharton
}Doctrinaire usually implies a dogmatic disposition; it typically suggests an opposition to practical, for it emphasizes a disposition to be guided by one's theories or the doctrines of one's school of thought in teaching, in framing laws, or in policies or decisions, especially those affecting others{the rationalist mind ... is of a doctrinaire and authoritative complexion: the phrase "must be" is ever on its lips— James
}{the most profound contribution to political thought in America, namely, the Federalist, was not the work of doctrinaire thinkers but of men of affairs— Frankfurter
}Oracular, with its implied reference to an ancient oracle, suggests the possession of hidden knowledge and the manner of one who delivers his opinions or views in cryptic phrases or with pompous dogmatism{his habit of oracular utterance when and possibly whenever he had a conviction— Pound
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
