direction
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English
Etymology
From Middle English direccioun, from Old French direccion, from Latin dīrēctiō. Equivalent to direct + -ion.
Pronunciation
Noun
direction (countable and uncountable, plural directions)
- 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.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- 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[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company , →OCLC:
- 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.
- A general trend for future action.
- Guidance, instruction.
- The trombonist looked to the bandleader for direction.
- 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.
- (dated) The body of persons who guide or manage a matter; the directorate.
- (archaic) A person's address.
- 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society, published 1985, page 218:
- Her aunt Leonella was still at Cordova, and she knew not her direction.
Derived terms
- cardinal direction
- codirection
- co-direction
- directional
- directionality
- Directioner
- directionful
- direction indicator
- directionize
- directionless
- direction sign
- direction vector
- directive
- director
- eigendirection
- intercardinal direction
- misdirection
- nondirection
- ordinal direction
- radio direction finder
- redirection
- self-direction
- sense of direction
- stage direction
- stereodirection
- unidirection
- wind direction
- x-direction
- y-direction
- z-direction
Related terms
Translations
indication of the point toward which an object is moving
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work of the director (manager)
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work of the director in cinema or theater
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path or course of movement
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guidance, instruction
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading
- “"…direction…"”, by Mark Liberman, published by Language Log (2022-08-12)
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin dīrēctiōnem.
Pronunciation
Noun
direction f (plural directions)
- (spatial) direction
- être / aller dans la bonne direction ― to be going the right way, to be heading the right way
- (figuratively) direction
- government
- (figuratively) the director of the administration/organisation
- (occasional, figurative) the territory administered by a government
- (mechanics) Set of subsystems which allow to orient the wheels of a vehicle.
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
- → Turkish: direksiyon
- → Hijazi Arabic: دركسون (diriksōn)
Further reading
- “direction”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.
Interlingua
Noun
direction (plural directiones)
- direction (orientation, point where one is headed)
- direction, leadership, control, supervision