WordWeb Online

1. Command with authority
   "He directed the children to do their homework"
    
2. Intend (something) to move towards a certain goal, or direct to a specific place or group of people
   "criticism directed at her superior"; "direct your anger towards others, not towards yourself";
   - target, aim, place, point
    
3. (performing arts) guide the actors in (plays and films)
    
4. Govern or manage
    
5. Accompany somebody somewhere to show them the way
   "we directed him to our chief";
   - lead, take, conduct, guide
    
6. Cause to go somewhere
   "He directed all his energies into his dissertation";
   - send
    
7. Point or cause to go (blows, weapons, or objects such as photographic equipment) towards
   - aim, take, train, take aim
    
8. (music) Have the leading position, as in the performance of a composition
   "direct an orchestra";
   - conduct, lead
    
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
    - calculate, aim
     
11. Determine the direction of travelling
    - steer, maneuver [US], manoeuver [non-standard], manoeuvre [Brit, Cdn], point, head, guide, channelize, channelise [Brit]
     
12. Put an address on (an envelope)
    - address
     
13. Plan and control how a complex undertaking is done
    "he directed the robbery";
    - mastermind, engineer, organize, organise [Brit], orchestrate

1. Having no intervening persons, agents, conditions
   "in direct contact with the voters"; "direct exposure to the disease"; "a direct link"; "the direct cause of the accident"; "direct vote"; "in direct sunlight";
   - unmediated
    
2. Proceeding without deviation or interruption; straight and short
   "a direct route"; "a direct flight"; "a direct hit"
    
3. Being an immediate result or consequence
   "a direct result of the accident"
    
4. In precisely the same words used by a writer or speaker
   "a direct quotation";
   - verbatim
    
5. Lacking compromising or mitigating elements; exact
   "the direct opposite"
    
6. Straightforward in means, manner, behaviour, language or action
   "a direct question"; "a direct response"; "a direct approach"
    
7. In a straight unbroken line of descent from parent to child
   "a direct descendant of the king"; "direct heredity";
   - lineal
    
8. (astronomy) moving from west to east on the celestial sphere; or--for planets--around the sun in the same direction as the Earth
    
9. (mathematics) similar in nature, 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)"
    
10. (of a current) flowing in one direction only
    "direct current"

1. Without deviation
   "went direct to the office";
   - directly, straight

Derived forms: directed, directing, directs

See also: absolute, bluff, blunt, brutal, candid, directness, door-to-door, exact, flatfooted, flat-footed, forthright, frank, free-spoken, honest, honorable [US], honourable [Brit, Cdn], immediate, man-to-man, matrilineal, matrilinear, no-nonsense, nonstop, non-stop, outspoken, patrilineal, patrilinear, plain, plainspoken, point-blank, pointed, primary, related, square, straight, straightforward, straight-from-the-shoulder, straightness, through, undeviating, unilateral, unswerving, unvarnished, upfront

Type of: apprise, care, command, control, create, deal, designate, destine, displace, do, enjoin, execute, handle, instruct, intend, label, make, manage, move, order, perform, plan, position, say, specify, tell

Antonym: alternating, indirect, inverse, retrograde

Encyclopedia: Direct