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direct

[dih-rekt, dahy-] / dɪˈrɛkt, daɪ- /










Usage

What are other ways to say direct? To direct is to give information for guidance, or instructions or orders for a course of procedure: to direct someone to the station. To conduct is to precede or escort them to a place, sometimes with a degree of ceremony: to conduct a guest to his room. Guide implies continuous presence or agency in showing or indicating a course: to guide a traveler. To lead is to bring them onward in a course, guiding by contact or by going in advance; hence, figuratively, to influence or induce to some course of conduct: to lead a procession; to lead astray.

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.

See Examples For:

"As such, we have made the difficult decision to direct funds towards securing a safe future for the monkeys."

From BBC Aug. 8, 2026

“We’re optimistic that new leadership can bend the curve on traffic, but remain realistic that direct competitors have also gotten noticeably sharper, and the planned initiatives will take time to bear fruit,” he wrote.

From MarketWatch Aug. 8, 2026

The move is a direct retaliation to the restrictions Italy imposed on Spain arrivals last week, after some 72,000 people breached Morocco’s land and sea borders with Ceuta, a Spanish territory in North Africa.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 8, 2026

Instead, officials are trying to direct millions to handpicked organizations, according to sources and documents.

From Salon Aug. 8, 2026

Washington viewed the uprising as a direct threat to the authority of the federal government and called out the militia, a massive thirteen-thousand-man army, to squelch the uprising.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

It then directs different quantum states along separate routes through the crystal.

From Science Daily Aug. 8, 2026

Another motion directs the city attorney to explore legal action against any responsible parties to recoup taxpayer dollars spent on the emergency.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 4, 2026

That’s leading to the rise of model routing — a technique that directs queries to the most suitable AI model.

From MarketWatch Aug. 1, 2026

The order directs the Department of Interior to issue the warnings, and also to direct people about where they can find "accurate information regarding America's history".

From BBC Jul. 25, 2026

But anyone can see that Peeta is preoccupied, so Caesar directs the conversation right into the subject that’s on everyone's minds.

From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

The mayor, who is up for re-election this year, said she directed city departments to work with local, state, federal, nonprofit and community partners to deliver immediate support and solutions.

From BBC Aug. 9, 2026

The movie, directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Greta Lee and Wagner Moura, follows a family of four who are trapped inside their home with no way out, according to a Netflix statement.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 8, 2026

Not all the proposed funding is directed to controversial groups, our reporting found.

From Salon Aug. 8, 2026

The concentrated sunlight can then be directed onto the tiny nonlinear crystal responsible for producing the entangled photons.

From Science Daily Aug. 8, 2026

At last someone directed me to a distant platform.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Since his career began, Kelly had been pushing cine-dance forward, directing his first sequence and experimenting with double exposure in the “Alter Ego” dance for the 1944 film “Cover Girl.”

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 7, 2026

Asked if the new orders would withstand judicial scrutiny, Trump predicted they would, before directing the question to White House staff secretary Will Scharf.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 7, 2026

The Colosseum is not prescriptive about when people should visit, instead directing visitors to guidance from the regional authorities.

From BBC Aug. 4, 2026

Lamming suspects that regular physical activity may offer protection by directing protein toward the development and maintenance of strong, healthy muscle.

From Science Daily Aug. 2, 2026

But, tell the truth, she’d been too busy directing the school’s Christmas play to worry much about him.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns




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