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1. Command with authority
   "He directed the children to do their homework"
    
2. Intend (something) to move towards a certain goal
   "criticism directed at her superior"; "direct your anger towards others, not towards yourself"
   - target, aim, place, point
    
3. Guide the actors in (plays and films)
    
4. Be in charge of
    
5. Take somebody somewhere
   - 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. Lead, as in the performance of a composition
   - 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. Direct the course; 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 direct (a complex undertaking)
    - mastermind, engineer, organize, organise [Brit], orchestrate

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

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

Derived forms: directs, directed, directing

See also: absolute, bluff, blunt, brutal, candid, directive, directly, directness, director, door-to-door, exact, flat-footed, forthright, frank, free-spoken, honest, honorable [US], honourable [Brit, Cdn], immediate, man-to-man, matrilineal, matrilinear, no-nonsense, nonstop, 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 [Brit], apprize, 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