Definition of "dictum" []

• An authoritative, often formal pronouncement: "He cites Augustine's dictum that 'If you understand it, it is not God'” ( Joseph Sobran). (noun)
• Law See obiter dictum. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But if three people do it -- can you imagine, three people walking in and saying, this dictum is a pile of horseshit, singing it in harmony -- why, then we got ourselves a movement!"
• "The Show not Tell dictum is one of the hard ones and if we are able to get that right, the novel seems to finally get legs of its own."
• "But as a RULE OF THUMB, the dictum is perfectly unexceptionable and modestly useful."