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• directory
  directory

  noun

  a book containing an alphabetical index of the names and addresses of persons in a city, district, organization, etc., or of a particular category of people.
• Directory
  Directory

  noun

  history the body of five directors in power in France from 1795 until their overthrow by Napoleon in 1799

directory

American  

[dih-rek-tuh-ree, -tree, dahy-] / dɪˈrɛk tə ri, -tri, daɪ- /

noun

• directories
  plural

1. a book containing an alphabetical index of the names and addresses of persons in a city, district, organization, etc., or of a particular category of people.

2. a board or tablet on a wall of a building listing the room and floor numbers of the occupants.

3. a book of directions.

4. Computers.

   1. Also called folder.  an organizing unit in a computer's file system for storing and locating files. In a hierarchical file system, directories can contain child directories subdirectories as well as files.

   2. a description of characteristics of a particular file, as the layout of fields within each record.

5. French History. the Directory, the body of five directors forming the executive power of France from 1795 to 1799.

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adjective

1. serving to direct; directing; directive.

directory ¹ British  

/ dɪˈrɛktərɪ, -trɪ, daɪ- /

noun

1. a book, arranged alphabetically or classified by trade listing names, addresses, telephone numbers, etc, of individuals or firms

2. a book or manual giving directions

3. a book containing the rules to be observed in the forms of worship used in churches

4. a less common word for directorate

5. computing an area of a disk, Winchester disk, or floppy disk that contains the names and locations of files currently held on that disk

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adjective

1. directing

Directory ² British  

/ -trɪ, dɪˈrɛktərɪ, daɪ- /

noun

1. Also known as: the French Directory.  history the body of five directors in power in France from 1795 until their overthrow by Napoleon in 1799

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• directories
  plural

Etymology

Origin of directory

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Medieval Latin dīrēctōrium, noun use of Late Latin dīrēctōrius directorial; directory in def. 5, translation of French Directoire, from Medieval Latin, as above

Explanation

A directory is a type of catalog, an organized list of people or businesses and how to contact them. If you need to find your lab partner's phone number, check the school directory. An old-fashioned phone book is a directory, an alphabetical list of the people in your city or town, along with their phone number and address. These days such a directory is more often found online. In computing, a directory is also known as a folder, and it contains information about how data is stored in a computer. In the 16th century, a directory was a book of religious guidelines and rules. Directory comes from a Latin root meaning "to set straight."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

directory Directory directories

Of the 400 California venues Scott has added to Only Everywhere’s directory, more than half don’t publish anything online about accessibility.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

EBay and Nike, for example, accept Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal, but neither company appears in Paze’s merchant directory.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

"It's more a theme park than a shopping mall," Germany supporter Michael Karg, 48, said as he fingered through an A-Z list of restaurants on a digital directory.

From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 2026

Users open up a gray pane that displays their file directory, lines of code and a chatbot window, where they can select their AI model of choice.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 19, 2026

Unlike Nora, I’m terrible at memorizing people’s apartment numbers, so I look at the directory in the lobby’s vestibule.

From "A Soft Place to Land" by Janae Marks

We also tracked where courts were located across Britain using data from The Padel Directory, and found that most were in the wealthiest areas, with the highest numbers in the south of England.

From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2025

Organizations like the Climate-Aware Therapist Directory and the American Psychiatric Assn. have put together an increasing number of guides and resources to help more people understand how climate change has affected our emotional well-being.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2024

From failing insurrections in Paris and the establishment of a new regime known as the Directory, the key drivers of the assignat were on their way out.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2023

The CCW Directory is a resource students and parents can use to search a variety of in-the-classroom and on-the-job experiences that include career and technical education, courses, internships, career fairs, pre-apprenticeships and registered apprenticeships.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 11, 2023

One thing I know about, because Mum has shown me, is getting an unknown number through Directory Enquiries.

From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd

This could involve searching through insurance directories for practitioners who accept their plans, or waiting weeks or longer to have an initial visit.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 7, 2026

The draft bill excludes online encyclopaedias and educational directories from the ban.

From Barron's ● Jan. 26, 2026

A Wall Street Journal investigation earlier this year found that many providers listed in the directories of Medicaid plans had seen few or no patients.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025

It said these include "personnel rosters, lists of terrorist training courses, phone directories and salary documents".

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2025

They stuffed the leaflets into stamped envelopes and addressed the envelopes with names chosen randomly from telephone directories.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Related Words

• almanac
• catalogue
• list
• yellow pages