Loading page
direct has 30 distinct synonyms spread across 13 of its 24 senses. Each sense below keeps its own list, because a synonym belongs to a meaning and not to a word: swapping one sense's substitute into another sense's sentence is how a thesaurus makes writing worse. Its 4 recorded opposites are indirect, retrograde, inverse, alternating.
Counts are distinct word forms across every sense. A synonym that appears under three senses is counted once here and shown three times below, under each sense it belongs to.
guide the actors in (plays and films)
give directions to; point somebody into a certain direction
“I directed them towards the town hall”
direct the course; determine the direction of travelling
put an address on (an envelope)
plan and direct (a complex undertaking)
“he masterminded the robbery”
direct in spatial dimensions; proceeding without deviation or interruption; straight and short
“a direct route”
straightforward in means or manner or behavior or language or action
“a direct question”
2 of the 24 recorded senses carry no synonym, antonym or related term, so they are not shown above. Every sense, with its definition and examples, is on the full entry for direct.
Synonyms, antonyms and the broader and narrower relations for direct come from Princeton University’s WordNet. Full sources and licences.
moving from west to east on the celestial sphere; or--for planets--around the sun in the same direction as the Earth
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)”
(of a current) flowing in one direction only
“direct current”