dir

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.
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.
   • I shall not rest satisfied with merely employing my capital in insuring ships. I shall buy up some good Life Assurance shares, and cut into the Direction.1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter III, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 46
6. (archaic) A person's address.
   • Her aunt Leonella was still at Cordova, and she knew not her direction.1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society, published 1985, page 218

Noun

directory (plural directories)

1. A list of names, addresses etc, of specific classes of people or organizations, often in alphabetical order or in some classification.
   • look up an address in the directory
2. A structured listing of the names and characteristics of the files on a storage device.
3. A virtual container in a computer's file system, in which files and other directories may be stored. The files and subdirectories in a directory are usually related.

   Synonyms:

   folder

4. A form of government with a collegial executive whose members jointly exercise power; the executive of such a government.
   • […] at the Ufa State Conference it was it was the union's conception of a directory (rather than a dictatorship) to rule anti-Bolshevik Russia that won the day.2015, Jonathan D. Smele, Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926, →ISBN, Union for the Return to the Motherland, page 1243

   Synonyms:

   directorate

See all 5 meanings of directory