direction

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French, from Latin dīrēctiō.

Pronunciation
  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /dəˈɹɛk.ʃən/, /dɪˈɹɛk.ʃən/, /daɪˈɹɛk.ʃən/, /daɪ̯əˈɹɛkʃən/
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛkʃən

Noun

direction (countable and uncountable, plural directions)

  1. A theoretical line (physically or mentally) followed from a point of origin or towards a destination. May be relative (e.g. up, left, outbound, dorsal), geographical (e.g. north), rotational (e.g. clockwise), or with respect to an object or location (e.g. toward Boston).
    Keep going in the same direction.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
    • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,
      Just before Warwick reached Liberty Point, a young woman came down Front Street from the direction of the market-house. When their paths converged, Warwick kept on down Front Street behind her, it having been already his intention to walk in this direction.
  2. A general trend for future action.
  3. Guidance, instruction.
    The trombonist looked to the bandleader for direction.
  4. The work of the director in cinema or theater; the skill of directing a film, play etc.
    The screenplay was good, but the direction was weak.
  5. (dated) The body of persons who guide or manage a matter; the directorate.
  6. (archaic) A person's address.
    • 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society 1985, page 218:
      Her aunt Leonella was still at Cordova, and she knew not her direction.

Derived terms

Translations
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Translations to be checked

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dīrēctiō, dīrēctiōnem.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /di.ʁɛk.sjɔ̃/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

direction f (plural directions)

  1. (spatial) direction
  2. (figuratively) direction
  3. government
  4. (figuratively) the director of the administration/organisation
  5. (occasional, figurative) the territory administered by a government

Further reading

Interlingua

Noun

direction (plural directiones)

  1. direction (orientation, point where one is headed)
  2. direction, leadership, control, supervision
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