Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

For example, directness when speaking is common and valued in American business culture, but indirectness is the norm in some other cultures.

From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021

This statement has everything: the bureaucratic indirectness of Soviet speech, the privileging of “fruits of labor” over the people who created them, and, of course, the utter disregard for human life.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 4, 2019

And, finally, he perhaps felt the time wasn’t right for any indirectness.

From Slate • Apr. 18, 2017

Direct answers are important, but indirectness has its place too.

From US News • Feb. 22, 2016

The explanation, with the usual indirectness of a Griswold, was sugared with a compliment.

From The Dreamer A Romantic Rendering of the Life-Story of Edgar Allan Poe by Stanard, Mary Newton