direct
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /daɪˈɹɛkt/
ipa: /dɪˈɹɛkt/
ipa: /dəˈɹɛkt/
ipa: /daɪ̯əˈɹɛkt/
note: Indic
ipa: /ɖa(j)ˈrɛkʈ/
rhymes: -ɛkt
Forms: form: more direct
form: most direct
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin dīrectus, 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 with пра́вить (právitʹ, “to govern, to rule, to drive, to steer”).
Senses: glosses: Proceeding without deviation or interruption.
examples: text: the most direct route between two buildings
glosses: Straight; not crooked, oblique, or circuitous; leading by the short or shortest way to a point or end.
examples: text: Be even and direct with me.
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
glosses: Straightforward; sincere.
examples: text: He nowhere, that I know, says it in direct words.
ref: 1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 1, in Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC:
text: Nor did the government scruple a direct and avowed interference with elections.
ref: 1827, Henry Hallam, “On the English Constitution from Henry VII. to Mary”, in The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 48:
glosses: Immediate; express; plain; unambiguous.
examples: text: a descendant in the direct line
glosses: In the line of descent; not collateral.
topics: astronomy
natural-sciences
glosses: 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.
examples: text: direct nomination; direct legislation
topics: political-science
social-sciences
glosses: Pertaining to, or effected immediately by, action of the people through their votes instead of through one or more representatives or delegates.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
lifestyle
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
tourism
transport
travel
glosses: Having a single flight number.
topics: human-sciences
logic
mathematics
philosophy
sciences
antonyms: indirect
glosses: Not employing the law of the excluded middle or argument by contradiction.
raw_tags: of a proof
Synonyms: sense: proceeding uninterrupted
word: immediate
sense: express, plain, unambiguous
word: explicit
word: patent
word: univocal
word: explicit
Derived terms: direct access
direct action
direct activist
direct air capture
direct bank
direct broadcast satellite
direct buffer
direct case
direct cinema
direct client contact
direct cost
direct coupling
direct current
direct cut
direct debit
direct democracy
direct deposit
direct descendant
direct discourse
direct election
direct evidence
direct exam
direct examination
direct fire
direct flight
direct free kick
direct grant grammar school
direct initiative
direct intent
direct-inverse marking
direct inward dialing
direct limit
direct mail
direct marketing
direct maternal death
direct message
directness
direct object
direct orange
direct primary
direct product
direct provision
direct question
direct quote
direct red card
direct registering
direct repeat
direct report
direct response
direct rule
direct selling
direct speech
direct sum
direct system
direct tax
direct-to-cell
direct-to-cellphone
direct-to-cellular
direct-to-consumer
direct-to-DVD
direct-to-home
direct-to-streaming
direct-to-TV
direct-to-video
direct verb
dreckly
foreign direct investment
hyperdirect
nondirect
non-direct buffer
semidirect
transcranial direct current stimulation
undirect