Word.ws English Dictionary

direct rule

direct rule noun: control by the central government of an area that has had its own governing body in the past.

Noun

direct rule (uncountable)

  1. (particularly in Northern Ireland) Control by the central government of an area that has had its own governing body in the past.
    • Unionists have demanded a full public inquiry into the "Stormontgate" affair which began in October 2002 when allegations of an IRA spying operation at Stormont prompted suspension of the Northern Ireland assembly and three years of direct rule.2005 December 19, Angelique Chrisafis, “Adams should resign over spy scandal, urges SDLP”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
    • The Catalan parliament will meet over the coming days to agree its response to the Spanish government’s unprecedented decision to impose direct rule as speculation mounts that the regional president, Carles Puigdemont, is planning to press ahead with a unilateral declaration of independence.2017 October 22, Sam Jones, “Catalonia weighs up declaration of independence”, in the Guardian

Questions about direct rule

What does direct rule mean?
Direct rule means control by the central government of an area that has had its own governing body in the past.
What part of speech is direct rule?
Direct rule is a noun.

Words near direct rule in the dictionary

  1. direct registering
  2. direct repeat
  3. direct report
  4. direct reports
  5. direct response
  6. direct rule
  7. direct selling
  8. direct sequel
  9. direct sequels
  10. direct speech
  11. direct sum

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: direct rule (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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