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direct
in a sentence
grouped by contextual meaning

direct as in:  directly above; or buy direct

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    Buy direct from the manufacturer.
    direct = without intervention from anyone else (in this case, without another company between the manufacturer and the buyer)
  • •
    They don't die fast, even with a direct hit to the brain.  (source)
    direct = exact
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    Cause my information come direct from Miz Claire Thompson who seen Mr. Tatum herself.  (source)
    direct = straight (without anything in between)
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Show 10 more with 4 word variations
  • •
    Two guards rounded the corner from Knack Street, directly ahead of her.  (source)
    directly = close, or in a straight line
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    One curvy road ran direct from Coeur d'Alene to Lewiston.  (source)
    direct = straight (without anything in between)
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    They're going to type a letter to a store owner in southern Zeeland who is, indirectly, one of Opekta's customers and ask him to fill out a form and send it back in the enclosed self-addressed envelope.  (source)
    indirectly = with a third party in between
    standard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indirectly means not and reverses the meaning of directly. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
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    Instead they had maintained indirect control in the same way the British had, relying on the Pashtun-recruited Frontier Corps rather than regular soldiers.  (source)
    indirect = with the involvement of other people
    standard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indirect means not and reverses the meaning of direct. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
  • •
    As soon as I saw they'd arrived at their destination, I turned around and came directly back.  (source)
    directly = immediately
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    None had such a golden look except the direct line of Helios.  (source)
    direct = straight (without anything in between)
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    But anyhow, when he knew with whom she was spending the evening, it was very seldom that he could not discover, among all his innumerable acquaintance, some one who knew—if only indirectly—the man with whom she had gone out, and could easily obtain this or that piece of information about him.†  (source)
    indirectly = not straight; or done in a way that involves other people or things
  • •
    Therefore this story, the story of a small dark man with a womanish voice dressed in Wagon Lit uniform, rests on the testimony, direct or indirect, of four witnesses.  (source)
    indirect = with the involvement of other people (repeated rather than heard first hand)
  • •
    But she doesn't go directly to her seat.  (source)
    directly = immediately
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    The Emerald Tablet is a direct passage to the Soul of the World.  (source)
    direct = straight or quick
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direct as in:  gave a direct answer

•
I left them with direct instructions.
direct = straightforward
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    She is easy to work with. She is direct in her communications and expectations.
    direct = straightforward (clear and unambiguous)
  • •
    Did she say that directly or just imply it.
    directly = in a straightforward manner (clean and explicit)
  • •
    She had a large, direct voice. No time to waste. "Komm," she instructed them.  (source)
    direct = clear
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Show 10 more with 6 word variations
  • •
    And Four doesn't often challenge Eric directly.  (source)
    directly = in a straightforward manner (clearly without any ambiguity)
  • •
    There's grumbling, but no direct defiance.  (source)
    direct = clear, or straightforward
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    He paused, then he added: Indirectly it came from Anne.  (source)
    Indirectly = in a complicated, non-obvious manner
    standard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indirectly means not and reverses the meaning of directly. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
  • •
    His methods were indirect and labyrinthine, but they brought him twice the profit of simpler business arrangements.  (source)
    indirect = not straightforward (complex or devious)
    standard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indirect means not and reverses the meaning of direct. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
  • •
    But Hammond had approached Wu with a directness Wu never forgot.  (source)
    directness = the quality of being straightforward or clear (without adjusting what is said to spare others' feelings)
    standard suffix: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means the quality of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.
  • •
    Against girls and their indirectness, their whisperings, he would be helpless.†  (source)
    indirectness = the quality or degree of not being straightforward
    standard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indirectness means not and reverses the meaning of directness. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
  • •
    And I don't know if everyone's still playing the Plague behind his back, because no one ever really told me about it directly, but my point is that it's not like he has a whole lot of other friends he could be hanging out with instead of me.  (source)
    directly = in a straightforward manner
  • •
    I'm not sure about Foxface since direct confrontation isn't her style or her forte.  (source)
    direct = straightforward (clear and uncomplicated)
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    Today two more families would be in mourning in the town of Guadalupe, and indirectly the far-off war of the Japanese and the Germans had come to claim two victims in New Mexico.  (source)
    indirectly = in a complicated, non-obvious manner
  • •
    Second, we must consider indirect and future effects.†  (source)
    indirect = not straightforward
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direct as in: direct a question; or direct a film

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    The judge directed the jury to ignore the question.
    directed = instructed (gave an instruction or command)
  • •
    Will you direct the effort.
    direct = be in charge of
  • •
    She is the organization's director.
    director = supervisor (person in charge)
    standard suffix: The suffix "-or" often converts a verb to a noun that means "a person who."  This is the pattern you see in words like actor, editor, and visitor.
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Show 10 more with 10 word variations
  • •
    The sign directed us to turn to the right.
    directed = instructed (gave an instruction)
  • •
    The sprinkler head needs to be fixed so it will direct water away from the house.
    direct = aim
  • •
    Soon afterward, he resigned from the pancake company and took a job as a cruise director in Miami.  (source)
    director = person in charge
    standard suffix: The suffix "-or" often converts a verb to a noun that means "a person who."  This is the pattern you see in words like actor, editor, and visitor.
  • •
    "Is August expecting you?" she said, directing her words to Rosaleen.  (source)
    directing = aiming
  • •
    I was completely peeved at the camp directors.  (source)
    directors = supervisors (people in charge)
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    He directs his gaze at a patch of sand between his feet as he makes this declaration; then he stops talking.  (source)
    directs = aims or focuses
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    One of these had been on the Board of Directors for Stovington Preparatory Academy, the old man's favorite charity.  (source)
    Board of Directors = members of a board that oversees the affairs of a corporation or other institution
  • •
    A little misdirected, maybe, but hey, the grammar was good, the writing concise.†  (source)
    standard prefix: The prefix "mis-" in misdirected means wrong and reverses the meaning of directed. This is the same pattern you see in words like misunderstand, misbehave, and misuse.
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    We had been an idiosyncratic, leaderless band in the summer, undirected except by the eccentric notions of Phineas.  (source)
    undirected = without focus
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in undirected means not and reverses the meaning of directed. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
  • •
    16:9 A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.†  (source)
    standard suffix: Today, the suffix "-eth" is replaced by "-s", so that where they said "She directeth" in older English, today we say "She directs."
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rare meaning

Show 3 with this contextual meaning
  • •
    Once the case was on direct appeal, no new evidence would be considered.  (source)
    direct = immediate and standard
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    Incredibly, both had been from Merovingian families—direct descendants of Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ.†  (source)
  • •
    Maxon knew there were direct descendants of Gregory Illea walking around?†  (source)
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Show 10 more
  • •
    Curiously enough, though he didn't know it, he was also a direct male-line descendant of Genghis Khan, though intervening generations and racial mixing had so juggled his genes that he had no discernible Mongoloid characteristics, and the only vestiges left in Mr. L. Prosser of his mighty ancestry were a pronounced stoutness about the tum and a predilection for little fur hats.†  (source)
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    These biscuits are direct descendants of honey and almond cakes that were baked in leaves and eaten at Roman fertility rites.†  (source)
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    They said the Elders hail from the original stock, direct descendants of Remus.†  (source)
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    Mrs. Archer and her son and daughter, like every one else in New York, knew who these privileged beings were: the Dagonets of Washington Square, who came of an old English county family allied with the Pitts and Foxes; the Lannings, who had intermarried with the descendants of Count de Grasse, and the van der Luydens, direct descendants of the first Dutch governor of Manhattan, and related by pre-revolutionary marriages to several members of the French and British aristocracy.†  (source)
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    It is said that in the early days of our epoch there were a good many people who were hereditarily afflicted with a disease called Idleness, because they were the direct descendants of those who in the bad times used to force other people to work for them—the people, you know, who are called slave-holders or employers of labour in the history books.†  (source)
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    All the Dedlocks, in the direct male line, through a course of time during and beyond which the memory of man goeth not to the contrary, have had the gout.†  (source)
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    Were it worth the enquiry, it would be found that more than a just proportion of the renowned names of the mother-country are, at this hour, to be found in her ci-devant colonies; and it is a fact well known to the few who have wasted sufficient time to become the masters of so unimportant a subject, that the direct descendants of many a failing line, which the policy of England has seen fit to sustain by collateral supporters, are now discharging the simple duties of citizens in the bosom of this republic.†  (source)
  • •
    On direct examination, Seiler asks Williams to explain his relationship with Danny Hansford.†  (source)
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    The one just admitted into evidence during Mr. Hooks's direct examination.†  (source)
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    He put on a fine show-whispering with Peter, putting his hand on the boy's arm when he got upset, taking copious notes on the direct examination and sharing them with his client.†  (source)
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