| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| direct |
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| SYLLABICATION: | di·rect |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  d -r kt , d - |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: di·rect·ed, di·rect·ing, di·rects
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To manage or conduct the affairs of; regulate. 2. To have or take charge of; control. See synonyms at conduct. 3. To give authoritative instructions to: directed the student to answer. 4. To cause to move toward a goal; aim. See synonyms at aim. 5. To show or indicate the way for: directed us to the airport. 6. To cause to move in or follow a straight course: directed their fire at the target. 7. To indicate the intended recipient on (a letter, for example). 8. To address or adapt (remarks, for example) to a specific person, audience, or purpose. 9a. To give guidance and instruction to (actors or musicians, for example) in the rehearsal and performance of a work. b. To supervise the performance of. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To give commands or directions. 2. To conduct a performance or rehearsal. | | ADJECTIVE: | 1. Proceeding without interruption in a straight course or line; not deviating or swerving: a direct route. 2. Straightforward and candid; frank: a direct response. 3. Having no intervening persons, conditions, or agencies; immediate: direct contact; direct sunlight. 4. Effected by action of the voters, rather than through elected representatives or delegates: direct elections. 5. Being of unbroken descent; lineal: a direct descendant of the monarch. 6. Consisting of the exact words of the writer or speaker: a direct quotation; direct speech. 7. Lacking compromising or mitigating elements; absolute: direct opposites. 8. Mathematics Varying in the same manner as another quantity, especially increasing if another quantity increases or decreasing if it decreases. 9. Astronomy Designating west-to-east motion of a planet in the same direction as the sun's movement against the stars. 10. Sports Being a free kick in soccer by which a goal can be scored without the ball being touched by a second player. | | ADVERB: | Straight; directly. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English directen, from Latin drigere, dr ct-, to give direction to : d-, dis-, apart; see dis– + regere, to guide; see reg- in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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