dic-, dict-

1. A spoken curse or an evil spell: The author was fearful that the governor of the foreign country had issued a malediction against her because of the derogatory statement she made in one of her books.
2. Malicious accusations, comments, or evil talking about an individual, people, nations, politicians, etc.: Several new maledictions against the former mayor were revealed by the press on the weekend. © ALL rights are reserved.

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Of the nature of, or resembling a condemnation or slanderous comment: The news columnist reserved her most maledictory comments for the senator; in fact, he was a frequent target of her disparaging or uncomplimentary remarks.

Translation: "Wonderful to relate."

Used to introduce the announcement of something the speaker, genuinely or ironically, considers to be amazing.

Another version is "Believe it or not." This statement by Vergil is used when anyone wishes to express astonishment while recounting an event of overwhelming significance, accomplishment, or irony.

Translation: "Nothing has been said that has not been said before."

An alternate meaning is: "How difficult it is to be original."

Translation: "Nothing is ever said that has not been said before."

From Publius Terentius Afer (c. 185 - 159 B.C.). Terence was the son of a Libyan slave and was born at Carthage. Cicero and Horace admired him for the urbanity and polish of his plays; Caesar praised his love of "pure speech".

1. Primarily in legal contexts: made or said in passing; an incidental remark: "Obiter is the shorter term for obiter dictum: 'Something said by the way.' "
2. Etymology: from Latin, originally as the phrase ob itur, "by the way".

In law, an expression of opinion on a matter of law, given by a judge in court in the course of either an argument or a judgment, but not forming an essential part of the reasons determining the decision, and therefore not a legally binding authority: "Generally, obiter dictum means anything said as an incidental statement or remark made by a judge and is not part of a final decision."

"When an obiter dictum is stated by a judge, it can be an opinion that may have some influence over the jury and the lawyers present; so, it is an opinion based on experience and wisdom but which has not been thoroughly researched, is not entered into a judgment, and so it has no legal force."

1. To deliver a sermon or a religious speech to an assembled group of people, typically in a church: "The pastor preached to a large congregation."
2. To proclaim or to teach; such as, a religious message or belief: "Every Sunday morning, the well-known religious leader was preaching to many people in the church and to even more during his television program."
3. To earnestly advocate a belief or a course of action: "May's parents have always preached toleration and moderation in all things."
4. To give moral advice to someone in an annoying or pompously self-righteous way: "The audience wants to be entertained, not to be preached at."
5. Etymology: from late Old English predician, a loan word from Church Latin, borrowed in the 12th century as preachen; from Old French prechier; from Late Latin predicare, "to proclaim publicly, to announce"; from Latin prae-, "forth" + dicare, "to proclaim, to say".

1. Someone who lectures or speaks; especially, a minister of a religious group: "The minister of the church conducts religious services and gives sermons in an effort to inspire members to do what is proper as believers in their God."
2. Etymology: from Old French precheor, from ecclesiastical Latin praedicator, from the verb praedicare; from prae, "before, forth" + dicare, "to declare, to speak, to say".

1. To lecture or to give advice on morality or behavior in an irritatingly tedious or overbearing way: "When the mother of the teenagers started to preachify to them, they tended to tune her out and pay no attention to what she was saying."
2. To moralize or to speak as if delivering a sermon; to express moral judgments: "`Mary's counselor at the university was considered to be a bit old fashioned and was often preachifying to the students' about their behavior."

Dogmatic instruction and exhortation: "Successful leadership is a process of persuasion rather than preachment."

Having, or revealing, a tendency to give moral advice in a self-righteous way: "There were times when Mike was upset when his father would tell him how he should behave in a preachy or annoying way."

Something which is essential before a subsequent result ensues; a prerequisite: There is a precondition which must be met before Joe's promotion can take place.

The creation of a situation in which a stimulus that is applied before will produce a certain response later: In her amateur psychological experiments with birds, Sadie planned a sequence of preconditioning which encouraged the birds to react positively to food that was presented to them.

1. One of the attributes or characteristics in Aristotelian logic, including designations of genus, species, etc.: The logics professor at the university urged her students to understand the predicables of Aristotelian deductive reasoning.
2. Something which can be stated or that can be said about someone or something: The predicables that Aunt Hattie made about the farm were accurate because she had grown up in an agricultural area.
3. Etymology: from medieval Latin praedicabilis, "able to be affirmed: from Latin praedicare, "to declare"; from prae-, "beforehand" + dicare, "to make known".