dictate

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

• intransitive verb To say or read aloud to be recorded or written by another.
• intransitive verb To prescribe with authority; impose.
• intransitive verb To control or command.
• intransitive verb To say or read aloud material to be recorded or written by another.
• intransitive verb To issue orders or commands.
• noun A directive; a command.
• noun A guiding principle.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To declare or prescribe with authority; direct or command positively, as being right, necessary, or inevitable: as, conscience dictates truthfulness and fair dealing; to dictate a course of conduct, or terms of surrender.
• To be the determining cause or motive of; fix or decide positively or unavoidably: as, necessity dictated the abandonment of the ship; his conduct is dictated by false pride.
• To express orally for another to write down; give utterance or form to, as something to be written: as, to dictate a letter to a clerk.
• Synonyms To command, prescribe, enjoin, require.
• To practise dictation; act or speak dictatorially; exercise controlling or arbitrary authority; assume a dictatorial, dogmatic, or commanding attitude.
• noun A positive order or command; an authoritative or controlling direction.
• noun An authoritative rule, maxim, or precept; a guiding principle: as, the dictates of conscience or of reason.
• noun Dictation.
• noun That which is dictated; a dictated utterance.
• noun Synonyms and Injunction, admonition.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• intransitive verb To speak as a superior; to command; to impose conditions (on).
• intransitive verb To compose literary works; to tell what shall be written or said by another.
• transitive verb To tell or utter so that another may write down; to inspire; to compose.
• transitive verb To say; to utter; to communicate authoritatively; to deliver (a command) to a subordinate; to declare with authority; to impose
• noun A statement delivered with authority; an order; a command; an authoritative rule, principle, or maxim; a prescription

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

• noun An order or command.
• verb To order, command, control.
• verb To speak in order for someone to write down the words.

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

• noun an authoritative rule
• noun a guiding principle
• verb say out loud for the purpose of recording
• verb rule as a dictator
• verb issue commands or orders for