direct address

American  

noun

1. Grammar. the use of a term or name for the person spoken to, as in securing the attention of that person; use of a vocative form.

2. Computers. indirect address

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Example Sentences

The direct address monologues, Lyons stresses, should have “a stand-up comedy feel to them. In these moments the audience is no longer a spectator, but an active participant in the story.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 8, 2025

At various points, Zarin shifts from third to first person, then integrates a second person voice, the book’s private reader, which becomes the object of a heightened strategy of direct address.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 10, 2024

What decisions did you make about using metatextual qualities and visual style and using direct address and other gimmicks to hold the viewer’s hand through the film?

From Salon • Oct. 26, 2023

The show’s shuffle of forms — including direct address, re-enactment, live and recorded vocals — can feel like an especially soulful, high-concept record that’s more evocative than linear.

From New York Times • Jun. 15, 2023

See 62.Nowhere near.Vulgar for not nearly.Nowheres.Vulgar.O and Oh.O is used with a noun in direct address; it is not separated from the noun by any marks of punctuation.

From The Century Handbook of Writing by Greever, Garland