Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An unsupported assertion, usually by a person of standing; a dictum.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An assertion without proof; a dogmatic expression of opinion; a dictum.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • phrase rhetoric An unproved proposition that is accepted solely on the authority of someone who is known to have asserted it; a dogmatic statement; a dictum.
  • phrase An authority who makes such an assertion.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an unsupported dogmatic assertion

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin ipse dīxit, he himself said (it) : ipse, he himself + dīxit, third person sing. perfect tense of dīcere, to say.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin ipse ("himself") dīxit ("he said"), third-person singular perfect active of dīcō ("say, speak"), a calque of Ancient Greek αὐτός (autos) ἔφα (epha). Originally used by the followers of Pythagoreanism, who claimed this or that proposition to be uttered by Pythagoras himself.

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Examples

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Comments

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  • Easy does it!

    July 11, 2007

  • Literally, "he himself said it."

    July 11, 2007