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direction

[dih-rek-shuh n, dahy-]
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noun
  1. the act or an instance of directing.
  2. the line along which anything lies, faces, moves, etc., with reference to the point or region toward which it is directed: The storm moved in a northerly direction.
  3. the point or region itself: The direction is north.
  4. a position on a line extending from a specific point toward a point of the compass or toward the nadir or the zenith.
  5. a line of thought or action or a tendency or inclination: the direction of contemporary thought.
  6. Usually directions. instruction or guidance for making, using, etc.: directions for baking a cake.
  7. order; command.
  8. management; control; guidance; supervision: a company under good direction.
  9. a directorate.
  10. the name and address of the intended recipient as written on a letter, package, etc.
  11. decisions in a stage or film production as to stage business, speaking of lines, lighting, and general presentation.
  12. the technique, act, or business of making such decisions, managing and training a cast of actors, etc.
  13. the technique, act, or business of directing an orchestra, concert, or other musical presentation or group.
  14. Music. a symbol or phrase that indicates in a score the proper tempo, style of performance, mood, etc.
  15. a purpose or orientation toward a goal that serves to guide or motivate; focus: He doesn't seem to have any direction in life.
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Origin of direction

1375–1425; late Middle English direccioun (< Middle French) < Latin dīrēctiōn- (stem of dīrēctiō) “arranging in line, straightening.” See direct, -ion
Related formsdi·rec·tion·less, adjectivepre·di·rec·tion, nounself-di·rec·tion, nounsu·per·di·rec·tion, noun

Synonym study

5. See tendency.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

controlguidanceleadershiporderoutlookangleorientationareatrendaspectwayobjectivepathlinegovernmentadministrationsupervisionchargecommandoversight

Examples from the Web for direction

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The true remedy is not to be sought in that direction in the one case any more than the other.

    'Tis Sixty Years Since

    Charles Francis Adams

  • The view was very extensive but not promising--spinifex being in every direction.

  • Spinifex in every direction, and the country very miserable and unpromising.

  • It seemed to come from the direction of Malbone's room, which was in the third story.

    Malbone

    Thomas Wentworth Higginson

  • Your aunt has been forced to engage not to interfere but by your father's direction.

    Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)

    Samuel Richardson

British Dictionary definitions for direction

direction

noun
  1. the act of directing or the state of being directed
  2. management, control, or guidance
  3. the work of a stage or film director
  4. the course or line along which a person or thing moves, points, or lies
  5. the course along which a ship, aircraft, etc, is travelling, expressed as the angle between true or magnetic north and an imaginary line through the main fore-and-aft axis of the vessel
  6. the place towards which a person or thing is directed
  7. a line of action; course
  8. the name and address on a letter, parcel, etc
  9. music the process of conducting an orchestra, choir, etc
  10. music an instruction in the form of a word or symbol heading or occurring in the body of a passage, movement, or piece to indicate tempo, dynamics, mood, etc
  11. (modifier) maths
    1. (of an angle) being any one of the three angles that a line in space makes with the three positive directions of the coordinate axes. Usually given as α, β, and γ with respect to the x-, y-, and z- axes
    2. (of a cosine) being the cosine of any of the direction angles
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See also directions
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for direction

n.

c.1400, "orderly arrangement;" c.1500 as "action of directing," from Latin directionem (nominative directio), noun of action from past participle stem of dirigere (see direct (v.)). Meaning "course pursued by a moving object" is from 1660s. Related: Directional.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with direction

direction

see step in the right direction.

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.