direct

Proceeding without deviation or interruption.

Adjective

  1. Proceeding without deviation or interruption.
  2. Straight; not crooked, oblique, or circuitous; leading by the short or shortest way to a point or end.
    • the most direct route between two buildings
  3. Straightforward; sincere.
    • Be even and direct with me. - c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
  4. Immediate; express; plain; unambiguous.
    • He nowhere, that I know, says it in direct words. - 1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 1, in Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC:
    • Nor did the government scruple a direct and avowed interference with elections. - 1827, Henry Hallam, “On the English Constitution from Henry VII. to Mary”, in The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of...
  5. In the line of descent; not collateral.
    • a descendant in the direct line
  6. In the direction of the general planetary motion, or from west to east; in the order of the signs; not retrograde; said of the motion of a celestial body.
  7. Pertaining to, or effected immediately by, action of the people through their votes instead of through one or more representatives or delegates.
    • direct nomination; direct legislation
  8. Having a single flight number.
  9. Not employing the law of the excluded middle or argument by contradiction.

    Antonyms: indirect

Origin

Borrowed from Latin dīrēctus, perfect passive participle of dīrigō (“straighten, direct”), from dis- (“asunder, in pieces, apart, in two”) + regō (“make straight, rule”). Compare dress. Doublet of derecho. For the meaning development compare with Russian напра́вить (naprávitʹ, “to direct, to turn, to aim, to level, to point”), отпра́вить (otprávitʹ, “to send, to dispatch, to forward”) connected with пра́вить (právitʹ, “to govern, to rule, to drive, to steer”).

Forms

more direct most direct

Synonyms

immediate explicit patent univocal

Antonyms

indirect

Derived

direct access direct action direct activist direct air capture direct bank direct broadcast satellite direct buffer direct case direct cinema direct client contact direct cost direct coupling direct cremation direct current direct cut direct debit direct democracy direct deposit direct descendant direct discourse direct drive direct election direct evidence direct exam

Adverb

  1. Directly.
    • The walls, which are fixed direct into the ground without a plinth, are made of wattle and plastered with a thin lair of mud or cowdung. - 1912, Central Provinces (India), Central Provinces District Gazetteers, page 96:
    • Presumably Mary is to carry messages that she, Anne, is too delicate to convey direct. - 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 346:

Forms

more direct most direct

Verb

  1. To manage, control, steer.
    • to direct the affairs of a nation or the movements of an army
    • Pent up in Utica he vainly forms A poor Epitome of Roman Greatneſs, And, cover’d with Numidian Guards, directs A feeble Army, and an empty Senate, Remnants of mighty Battels fought in vain. - 1712 (date written),...
  2. To aim (something) at (something else).
    • They directed their fire towards the men on the wall.
    • He directed his question to the room in general.
  3. To point out to or show (somebody) the right course or way; to guide, as by pointing out the way; to refer.
    • He directed me to the left-hand road.
    • the next points to which I will direct your attention - 1882, John Lubbock, Flowers, Fruits and Leaves:

    Synonyms: point

  4. To point out to with authority; to instruct as a superior; to order.
    • She directed them to leave immediately.
    • I'll first direct my men what they shall do. - c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  5. To address (a letter) to a particular person or place.
    • [A]s I do not know where I shall be, and shall have my letters sent after me as soon as I do know, continue to direct hither. - 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 310:

Forms

directs directing directed

Related

adroit direction directly director dirge dirigible dress

Derived

co-direct codirect directability directable directee directrix misdirect outdirect overdirect overdirecting redirect redirective stereodirect subdirect underdirect undirect