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Direct

//daɪˈɹɛkt// adj, adv, verb

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Proceeding without deviation or interruption.
  2. 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. 3
    Straightforward; sincere.

    "Be even and direct with me."

  4. 4
    Immediate; express; plain; unambiguous.

    "He nowhere, that I know, says it in direct words."

  5. 5
    In the line of descent; not collateral.

    "a descendant in the direct line"

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 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.
  2. 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"

  3. 8
    Having a single flight number.
  4. 9
    Not employing the law of the excluded middle or argument by contradiction.
Adjective
  1. 1
    lacking compromising or mitigating elements wordnet
  2. 2
    direct in spatial dimensions; proceeding without deviation or interruption; straight and short wordnet
  3. 3
    (of a current) flowing in one direction only wordnet
  4. 4
    straightforward in means or manner or behavior or language or action wordnet
  5. 5
    similar in nature or effect or relation to another quantity wordnet
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    moving from west to east on the celestial sphere; or — for planets — around the sun in the same direction as the Earth wordnet
  2. 7
    having no intervening persons, agents, conditions wordnet
  3. 8
    in precisely the same words used by a writer or speaker wordnet
  4. 9
    in a straight unbroken line of descent from parent to child wordnet
  5. 10
    being an immediate result or consequence wordnet
Adverb
  1. 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."

Adverb
  1. 1
    without deviation wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To manage, control, steer.

    "to direct the affairs of a nation or the movements of an army"

  2. 2
    plan and direct (a complex undertaking) wordnet
  3. 3
    To aim (something) at (something else).

    "They directed their fire towards the men on the wall."

  4. 4
    specifically design a product, event, or activity for a certain public wordnet
  5. 5
    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."

Show 13 more definitions
  1. 6
    command with authority wordnet
  2. 7
    To point out to with authority; to instruct as a superior; to order.

    "She directed them to leave immediately."

  3. 8
    give directions to; point somebody into a certain direction wordnet
  4. 9
    To address (a letter) to a particular person or place. dated

    "[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."

  5. 10
    put an address on (an envelope) wordnet
  6. 11
    intend (something) to move towards a certain goal wordnet
  7. 12
    point or cause to go (blows, weapons, or objects such as photographic equipment) towards wordnet
  8. 13
    guide the actors in (plays and films) wordnet
  9. 14
    lead, as in the performance of a composition wordnet
  10. 15
    direct the course; determine the direction of travelling wordnet
  11. 16
    cause to go somewhere wordnet
  12. 17
    take somebody somewhere wordnet
  13. 18
    govern or manage wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

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”).

Etymology 2

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”).

Etymology 3

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”).

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