direct Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb command with authority
    • He directed the children to do their homework
  2. verb intend (something) to move towards a certain goal
    aim; point; place; target.
    • He aimed his fists towards his opponent's face
    • criticism directed at her superior
    • direct your anger towards others, not towards yourself
  3. verb guide the actors in (plays and films)
  4. verb be in charge of
  5. verb take somebody somewhere
    guide; conduct; take; lead.
    • We lead him to our chief
    • can you take me to the main entrance?
    • He conducted us to the palace
  6. verb cause to go somewhere
    send.
    • The explosion sent the car flying in the air
    • She sent her children to camp
    • He directed all his energies into his dissertation
  7. verb point or cause to go (blows, weapons, or objects such as photographic equipment) towards
    aim; train; take; take aim.
    • Please don't aim at your little brother!
    • He trained his gun on the burglar
    • Don't train your camera on the women
    • Take a swipe at one's opponent
  8. verb lead, as in the performance of a composition; Barenboim conducted the Chicago symphony for years"
    lead; conduct.
    • conduct an orchestra
  9. verb give directions to; point somebody into a certain direction
    • I directed them towards the town hall
  10. verb specifically design a product, event, or activity for a certain public
    aim; calculate.
  11. verb direct the course; determine the direction of travelling
    maneuver; head; point; guide; channelise; manoeuvre; channelize; manoeuver; steer.
  12. verb put an address on (an envelope)
    address.
  13. verb plan and direct (a complex undertaking)
    organize; organise; engineer; mastermind; orchestrate.
    • he masterminded the robbery
  14. adjective direct in spatial dimensions; proceeding without deviation or interruption; straight and short
    • a direct route
    • a direct flight
    • a direct hit
  15. adjective satellite having no intervening persons, agents, conditions
    unmediated.
    • in direct sunlight
    • in direct contact with the voters
    • direct exposure to the disease
    • a direct link
    • the direct cause of the accident
    • direct vote
  16. adjective straightforward in means or manner or behavior or language or action
    • a direct question
    • a direct response
    • a direct approach
  17. adjective in a straight unbroken line of descent from parent to child
    lineal.
    • lineal ancestors
    • lineal heirs
    • a direct descendant of the king
    • direct heredity
  18. adjective moving from west to east on the celestial sphere; or--for planets--around the sun in the same direction as the Earth
  19. adjective similar in nature or effect or relation to another quantity
    • a term is in direct proportion to another term if it increases (or decreases) as the other increases (or decreases)
  20. adjective (of a current) flowing in one direction only
    • direct current
  21. adjective satellite being an immediate result or consequence
    • a direct result of the accident
  22. adjective satellite in precisely the same words used by a writer or speaker
    verbatim.
    • a direct quotation
    • repeated their dialog verbatim
  23. adjective satellite lacking compromising or mitigating elements; exact
    • the direct opposite
  24. adverb without deviation
    straight; directly.
    • the path leads directly to the lake
    • went direct to the office

WordNet

Di*rect" adjective
Etymology
L. directus, p. p. of dirigere to direct: cf. F. direct. See Dress, and cf. Dirge.
Definitions
  1. Straight; not crooked, oblique, or circuitous; leading by the short or shortest way to a point or end; as, a direct line; direct means.
    What is direct to, what slides by, the question. Locke.
  2. Straightforward; not of crooked ways, or swerving from truth and openness; sincere; outspoken.
    Be even and direct with me. Shak.
  3. Immediate; express; plain; unambiguous.
    He howhere, that I know, says it in direct words. Locke.
    A direct and avowed interference with elections. Hallam.
  4. In the line of descent; not collateral; as, a descendant in the direct line.
  5. (Astron.) 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.
Di*rect" transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Directed; present participle & verbal noun Directing
Definitions
  1. To arrange in a direct or straight line, as against a mark, or towards a goal; to point; to aim; as, to direct an arrow or a piece of ordnance.
  2. To point out or show to (any one), as the direct or right course or way; to guide, as by pointing out the way; as, he directed me to the left-hand road.
    The Lord direct your into the love of God. 2 Thess. iii. 5.
    The next points to which I will direct your attention. Lubbock.
  3. To determine the direction or course of; to cause to go on in a particular manner; to order in the way to a certain end; to regulate; to govern; as, to direct the affairs of a nation or the movements of an army.
    I will direct their work in truth. Is. lxi. 8.
  4. To point out to with authority; to instruct as a superior; to order; as, he directed them to go.
    I 'll first direct my men what they shall do. Shak.
  5. To put a direction or address upon; to mark with the name and residence of the person to whom anything is sent; to superscribe; as, to direct a letter. Syn. -- To guide; lead; conduct; dispose; manage; regulate; order; instruct; command.
Di*rect" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To give direction; to point out a course; to act as guide.
    Wisdom is profitable to direct. Eccl. x. 10.
Di*rect" noun
Definitions
  1. (Mus.) A character, thus [], placed at the end of a staff on the line or space of the first note of the next staff, to apprise the performer of its situation. Moore (Encyc. of Music).

Webster 1913