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Again, you are not dictating if it is up to them to decide whether they accept it or not. I am not native English speaker, but the dictionaries are rather prec

Again, you are not dictating if it is up to them to decide whether they accept it or not. I am not native English speaker, but the dictionaries are rather precise that authority is a necessary ingredient of being able to dictate something. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/dictate https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/dictate "to give orders, or tell someone exactly what they must do, with total authority" https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dictate https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dictate "to issue as an order; to impose, pronounce, or specify authoritatively" If you don't have authority over the company you can still think you are dictating, but that's not how the company views it. The company view is "are you too much of a problem for the benefit of keeping you?" not "John said it so we must do it because he has authority around here".

adamhp 5y ago
>I am not native English speaker There is a bit of nuance here. As someone else mentioned, he is not saying he is literally dictating what decision the employer must make, he is dictating his own terms. In fact, you conveniently left out a definition that doesn't fit your argument from the pages you linked: > to influence something or make it necessary Example (from the Cambridge URL that you linked): "He shouldn't be allowed to dictate all the terms and conditions - it's supposed to be a democratic decision." That's exactly what OP is doing. Dictating the terms and conditions. Influencing what "must be done". Giving them an ultimatum, by dictating his conditions. He is "dictating" in this case, because he does have total authority on his own actions. If they do not cede, he will leave. It's kind of a semantic argument, and moot at that, but even the resources you linked support OP's usage of the word dictate.

adamhp 5y ago

>I am not native English speaker There is a bit of nuance here. As someone else mentioned, he is not saying he is literally dictating what decision the employer must make, he is dictating his own terms. In fact, you conveniently left out a definition that doesn't fit your argument from the pages you linked: > to influence something or make it necessary Example (from the Cambridge URL that you linked): "He shouldn't be allowed to dictate all the terms and conditions - it's supposed to be a democratic decision." That's exactly what OP is doing. Dictating the terms and conditions. Influencing what "must be done". Giving them an ultimatum, by dictating his conditions. He is "dictating" in this case, because he does have total authority on his own actions. If they do not cede, he will leave. It's kind of a semantic argument, and moot at that, but even the resources you linked support OP's usage of the word dictate.