Díctio, dictiônis, f. g. Verbale. A speaking or vttering: a pronouncing. vt, Testimonij dictio. Ter. A wrtnessing.Sententiæ dictio.Cic.The vttering of his opinion. Dictio, pro Vocabulo. siue Verbo accipitur. Val. A word. Dictio Oratoria & facunda oratio.An eloquent oration. vt, Dictioni operam dare. Cic.To studie eloquence. Dictio, pro Oratione.Cic.An oration or pleading.Extemporales dictiones. Quint. Ertemporall orations. Dictio, pro Oraculo.Liu.An oracle.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
dictĭo, ōnis, f. [2. dico], a saying, speaking, uttering, delivery. I. In gen. A. (Good prose, for the most part only in jurid. and rhetor. lang.) Sententiae, Cic. Inv. 2, 4: testimonii, i. e. the right of giving testimony, Ter. Ph. 2, 1, 63: causae,
a defending, pleading
, Cic. Quint. 10, 35; id. Sest. 17 fin.; Caes. B. G. 1, 4, 2; Liv. 7, 5 al.: multae ovium et boum, Cic. Rep. 2, 9 fin.—B.Kinds of delivery, style, diction: seposuisse a ceteris dictionibus eam partem dicendi, quae, etc., id. de Or. 1, 6, 22; so, oratoriae, id. ib. 2, 67, 270: subitae, id. ib. 1, 33, 152: et vero fuit in hoc (Crasso) popularis dictio excellens; Antonii genus dicendi multo aptius, etc., id. Brut. 44, 165: extemporales, Quint. 2, 4, 27: discipulorum,
declamation
, id. 2, 2, 6 al.: saeptuosa dictione, opp. aperte dicere, Pac. Com. Frag. v. 5 Rib.— Hence, C.The use of a word or phrase, a mode of expression, Quint. 9, 1, 17; 9, 1, 4; Gell. 7, 9, 13; 11, 3, 5.—D.A word, = verbum, vocabulum (late Lat.), Prisc. II. p. 51, 10 al.—II. Esp. A. (Cf. dictum, B. 4.) An oracular response, prediction (rare; not in Cic.): flexa, non falsa autumare dictio Delphis solet, Pac. ap. Non. 237, 4 (Rib. Trag. v. 308); Att. ap. Auct. Her. 2, 26, 42; Liv. 8, 24, 2.—B.The art of speaking, oratory: dictioni operam dare, Cic. Tusc. 2, 3, 9.