Directive

//dəˈɹɛk.tɪv// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An instruction or guideline that indicates how to perform an action or reach a goal.
  2. 2
    a pronouncement encouraging or banning some activity wordnet
  3. 3
    A construct in source code that indicates how it should be processed but is not necessarily part of the program to be run.
  4. 4
    An authoritative decision from an official body, which may or may not have binding force.
  5. 5
    A form of legislative act addressed to the member states. The directive binds the member state to reach certain objectives in their national legislation. European-Union
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  1. 6
    The directive case.
Adjective
  1. 1
    That which directs; serving to direct, indicate, or guide. not-comparable

    "A directive management style is stronger among owners with 'lifestyle' as a business objective than among those with business/economic objectives."

  2. 2
    Relating to the directive case. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    showing the way by conducting or leading; imposing direction on wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
directingactuatingadmonitoryadvisoryaimableaimed

Example

More examples

"That would break the Prime Directive."

Etymology

From Middle French directif. The noun senses are from French directive (feminine form of the adjective).

Related phrases

advance directiveairworthiness directiveframework directiveprime directivedirective casesource code

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.