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direct

Pronunciation: /daɪˈɹɛkt/

The English word “direct” has 15 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Proceeding without deviation or interruption.
  2. Straight; not crooked, oblique, or circuitous; leading by the short or shortest way to a point or end.
  3. Straightforward; sincere.
  4. Immediate; express; plain; unambiguous.
  5. In the line of descent; not collateral.
  6. 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.
  7. Pertaining to, or effected immediately by, action of the people through their votes instead of through one or more representatives or delegates.
  8. Having a single flight number.
  9. Not employing the law of the excluded middle or argument by contradiction.

adverb

  1. Directly.

verb

  1. To manage, control, steer.
  2. To aim (something) at (something else).
  3. To point out to or show (somebody) the right course or way; to guide, as by pointing out the way; to refer.
  4. To point out to with authority; to instruct as a superior; to order.
  5. To address (a letter) to a particular person or place.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dīrēctus, perfect passive participle of dīrigō (“straighten, direct”), from dis- (“asunder, in pieces, apart, in two”) + regō (“make straight, rule”). Compare dress. Doublet of derecho. For the meaning development compare with Russian напра́вить (naprávitʹ, “to direct, to turn, to aim, to level, to point”), отпра́вить (otprávitʹ, “to send, to dispatch, to forward”) connected…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.