an observation by a judge on some point of law not directly in issue in the case before him or herand thus neither requiring a decision nor serving as a precedent, but nevertheless of persuasive authority
2.
any comment, remark, or observation made in passing
Word origin
Latin: something said in passing
Examples of 'obiter dicta' in a sentence
obiter dicta
These gaffes, he added, were mere 'obiter dicta' - nugatory piffle, as he might translate it.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The archness of the gloss is typical of the obiter dicta with which the authors spruce their diligence.
The Times Literary Supplement (2010)
Non sequiturs, tautologies, obiter dicta, wild generalizations, malapropisms and clichés abound.
The Times Literary Supplement (2012)
Those observations had not been necessary for the decision, but there were obiter dicta and obiter dicta.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The powerfully framed obiter dicta in the essays, which were full of contradictions but somehow struck home, carried that momentum forward.