dictado

In a sentence

• El maestro nos pidió realizar un ejercicio de dictado.

  The teacher asked us to do a dictation exercise.

  In this sentence, 'dictado' refers to the traditional activity in language learning where someone reads a text aloud for others to write down, practicing listening and writing skills.

• Su discurso parecía el dictado de una autoridad superior.

  His speech seemed like the decree of a higher authority.

  Here, 'dictado' is used metaphorically to mean something spoken or imposed as if by an authoritative source, stressing the sense of hierarchy.

• Revisé el dictado antes de entregarlo al maestro.

  I reviewed the dictation before submitting it to the teacher.

  In this sentence, 'dictado' again refers to the written result of the activity of listening and transcribing; it emphasizes the act of reviewing the work.