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. Phorm. 293: 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.