[
UK
/daɪɹˈɛkt/
]
[ US /daɪˈɹɛkt, dɝˈɛkt, dɪˈɹɛkt/ ]
[ US /daɪˈɹɛkt, dɝˈɛkt, dɪˈɹɛkt/ ]
VERB
-
give directions to; point somebody into a certain direction
I directed them towards the town hall -
command with authority
He directed the children to do their homework - direct the course; determine the direction of travelling
-
intend (something) to move towards a certain goal
criticism directed at her superior
He aimed his fists towards his opponent's face
direct your anger towards others, not towards yourself -
cause to go somewhere
He directed all his energies into his dissertation
She sent her children to camp
The explosion sent the car flying in the air -
point or cause to go (blows, weapons, or objects such as photographic equipment) towards
He trained his gun on the burglar
Take a swipe at one's opponent
Please don't aim at your little brother!
Don't train your camera on the women -
lead, as in the performance of a composition
conduct an orchestra; Barenboim conducted the Chicago symphony for years - guide the actors in (plays and films)
- be in charge of
-
plan and direct (a complex undertaking)
he masterminded the robbery -
take somebody somewhere
can you take me to the main entrance?
We lead him to our chief
He conducted us to the palace - specifically design a product, event, or activity for a certain public
- put an address on (an envelope)
ADVERB
-
without deviation
went direct to the office
the path leads directly to the lake
ADJECTIVE
-
lacking compromising or mitigating elements; exact
the direct opposite -
having no intervening persons, agents, conditions
direct vote
in direct contact with the voters
in direct sunlight
direct exposure to the disease
a direct link
the direct cause of the accident -
in a straight unbroken line of descent from parent to child
lineal ancestors
a direct descendant of the king
direct heredity
lineal heirs -
(of a current) flowing in one direction only
direct current -
in precisely the same words used by a writer or speaker
a direct quotation
repeated their dialog verbatim -
being an immediate result or consequence
a direct result of the accident -
direct in spatial dimensions; proceeding without deviation or interruption; straight and short
a direct route
a direct flight
a direct hit - moving from west to east on the celestial sphere; or--for planets--around the sun in the same direction as the Earth
-
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) -
straightforward in means or manner or behavior or language or action
a direct approach
a direct response
a direct question
How To Use direct In A Sentence
- Smith, who is also a director of Norwich City Football Club, said her CBE was a "very, very great honour". BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition
- Their dried dung is found everywhere, and is in many places the only fuel afforded by the plains; their skulls, which last longer than any other part of the animal, are among the most familiar of objects to the plainsman; their bones are in many districts so plentiful that it has become a regular industry, followed by hundreds of men (christened "bone hunters" by the frontiersmen), to go out with wagons and collect them in great numbers for the sake of the phosphates they yield; and Bad Lands, plateaus, and prairies alike, are cut up in all directions by the deep ruts which were formerly buffalo trails. VIII. The Lordly Buffalo
- A specially designed speculum is used to help direct the injection into the G-spot, with effects lasting around four months. G Marks The Spot
- Some of my remarks here are directed toward conventional scientists, who generally refrain from commenting critically on the wild ideas of a few of their colleagues because it is bad manners.
- There was a deal of shouting from Jamie's direction, and general hubbub, as a few people came out of the pothouse, staring. A Breath of Snow and Ashes
- In this regard, I offer a few guesses about some general directions in which statistical physics may change.
- ‘Break, break, break,’ for instance, is a bitter poem on unrecompensed, pointless loss, but it achieves its power and makes its point very indirectly, largely through structural implications.
- The opposite change occurs in what are termed fastigiate varieties, where the branches, in place of assuming more or less of a horizontal direction, become erect and nearly parallel with the main stem as in the Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants
- He is a bit upset by that, that anybody thought he was wanting to leave just for one half-time where I was more direct with the players than I have been for a few months.
- Alcohol abuse can be inherited but researchers had found few genes directly linked to it. The Sun