De dicto

De dicto is a fancy way of saying that things can mean different things depending on how you say them.

For example, imagine you say, "I always eat ice cream on Thursdays." This means that every Thursday, you eat ice cream. But if you say, "On Thursdays, I always eat ice cream," it means the same thing!

So, de dicto means that the meaning of something depends on how it is spoken or written. It's like a secret code - you have to understand the way something is said or written to understand what it really means.