directed

[dih-rek-tid, dahy-]

adjective

1. guided, regulated, or managed.

   a carefully directed program.

2. subject to direction, guidance, regulation, etc.

3. pointed, aimed, or sent toward a place or object.

   Rooms need to have high air exchange rates, rapid air velocities, and directed airflows to minimize particle concentration.

4. Mathematics.,  (of an angle or vector) having positive or negative direction or orientation assigned.

directed

/ daɪ-, dɪˈrɛktɪd /

adjective

1. maths (of a number, line, or angle) having either a positive or negative sign to distinguish measurement in one direction or orientation from that in the opposite direction or orientation

Other Word Forms

• directedness noun
• overdirected adjective
• self-directed adjective
• well-directed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of directed¹

First recorded in 1530–40; direct + -ed ²

Example Sentences

Written and directed by Scott Cooper from Warren Zanes’s 2023 book, the film sets out to capture two states of mind that are tricky to depict cinematically: depression and creativity.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Not an overarching judge-led process, but instead a series of local investigations, directed and overseen by a national commission with statutory powers.

Read more on BBC

And that signal isn’t just directed at other countries.

Read more on Salon

Seminal American folk singer Woody Guthrie, who was a pivotal supporting character in last year’s “A Complete Unknown,” had a biopic all to himself in this lyrical drama directed by the great Hal Ashby.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, the attorney general—how’s that for independence!—furtively directed the Internal Revenue Service to audit right-wing radio personalities who criticized the administration.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• conducted