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say it: dur-EK-shuhn
direction is a noun meaning "a line leading to a place or point". It is pronounced /dɚˈɛkʃən/ — dur-EK-shuhn. It carries 9 recorded senses.
a line leading to a place or point
“he looked the other direction”
“didn't know the way home”
the spatial relation between something and the course along which it points or moves
“he checked the direction and velocity of the wind”
a general course along which something has a tendency to develop
“I couldn't follow the direction of his thoughts”
“his ideals determined the direction of his career”
“they proposed a new direction for the firm”
something that provides direction or advice as to a decision or course of action
the act of managing something
“he was given overall management of the program”
“is the direction of the economy a function of government?”
a message describing how something is to be done
“he gave directions faster than she could follow them”
the act of setting and holding a course
“a new council was installed under the direction of the king”
a formal statement of a command or injunction to do something
“the judge's charge to the jury”
the concentration of attention or energy on something
“the focus of activity shifted to molecular biology”
“he had no direction in his life”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for direction come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.