direction
[dih-rek-shuh n, dahy-]
- the act or an instance of directing.
- 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.
- the point or region itself: The direction is north.
- a position on a line extending from a specific point toward a point of the compass or toward the nadir or the zenith.
- a line of thought or action or a tendency or inclination: the direction of contemporary thought.
- Usually directions. instruction or guidance for making, using, etc.: directions for baking a cake.
- order; command.
- management; control; guidance; supervision: a company under good direction.
- a directorate.
- the name and address of the intended recipient as written on a letter, package, etc.
- decisions in a stage or film production as to stage business, speaking of lines, lighting, and general presentation.
- the technique, act, or business of making such decisions, managing and training a cast of actors, etc.
- the technique, act, or business of directing an orchestra, concert, or other musical presentation or group.
- Music. a symbol or phrase that indicates in a score the proper tempo, style of performance, mood, etc.
- 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
Synonym study
5. See tendency.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for directionless
Contemporary Examples
As Taitz argues, Obama himself acknowledged that he was directionless when he started college.
Historical Examples
It was a fine life, but the days blurred one into the next, directionless.
MakersCory Doctorow
direction
- the act of directing or the state of being directed
- management, control, or guidance
- the work of a stage or film director
- the course or line along which a person or thing moves, points, or lies
- 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
- the place towards which a person or thing is directed
- a line of action; course
- the name and address on a letter, parcel, etc
- music the process of conducting an orchestra, choir, etc
- 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
- (modifier) maths
- (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
- (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 directionless
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 directionless
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.