Meaning & Definition of Direct in English

1. Command with authority

• "He directed the children to do their homework"

2. Intend (something) to move towards a certain goal

• "He aimed his fists towards his opponent's face"

• "Criticism directed at her superior"

• "Direct your anger towards others, not towards yourself"

3. Guide the actors in (plays and films)

4. Be in charge of

5. Take somebody somewhere

• "We lead him to our chief"

• "Can you take me to the main entrance?"

• "He conducted us to the palace"

6. Cause to go somewhere

• "The explosion sent the car flying in the air"

• "She sent her children to camp"

• "He directed all his energies into his dissertation"

7. Point or cause to go (blows, weapons, or objects such as photographic equipment) towards

• "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. Lead, as in the performance of a composition

• "Conduct an orchestra

• Barenboim conducted the chicago symphony for years"

9. Give directions to

• Point somebody into a certain direction

• "I directed them towards the town hall"

10. Specifically design a product, event, or activity for a certain public

11. Direct the course

• Determine the direction of travelling

12. Put an address on (an envelope)

13. Plan and direct (a complex undertaking)

• "He masterminded the robbery"

1. Direct in spatial dimensions

• Proceeding without deviation or interruption

• Straight and short

• "A direct route"

• "A direct flight"

• "A direct hit"

2. Having no intervening persons, agents, conditions

• "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"

3. Straightforward in means or manner or behavior or language or action

• "A direct question"

• "A direct response"

• "A direct approach"

4. In a straight unbroken line of descent from parent to child

• "Lineal ancestors"

• "Lineal heirs"

• "A direct descendant of the king"

• "Direct heredity"

5. Moving from west to east on the celestial sphere

• Or--for planets--around the sun in the same direction as the earth

6. 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)"

7. (of a current) flowing in one direction only

• "Direct current"

8. Being an immediate result or consequence

• "A direct result of the accident"

9. In precisely the same words used by a writer or speaker

• "A direct quotation"

• "Repeated their dialog verbatim"

10. Lacking compromising or mitigating elements

• Exact

• "The direct opposite"

1. Without deviation

• "The path leads directly to the lake"

• "Went direct to the office"