Dic*ta"tion (?), n. [L. dictatio.] 1. The act of dictating; the act or practice of prescribing; also that which is dictated.

It affords security against the dictation of laws.

2. The speaking to, or the giving orders to, in an overbearing manner; authoritative utterance; as, his habit, even with friends, was that of dictation.

• dictating, the process of speaking for someone else to write down the words
       Since I learned shorthand, I can take dictation at eighty words a minute.
  
• an activity in school where the teacher reads a passage aloud and the students write it down
       1908: Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables - We had reading and geography and Canadian history and dictation today.
  
• the act of ordering or commanding
       1852: Lysander Spooner, An Essay on the Trial by Jury - ...jurors in England have formerly understood it to be their right and duty to judge only according to their consciences, and not to submit to any dictation from the court, either as to law or fact.
  
• orders given in an overbearing manner
       His habit, even with friends, was that of dictation.