dictio

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.