Word.ws English Dictionary

directoire

directoire is the alternative form of Directoire.

Proper noun capitalized: Directoire

Directoire

  1. (historical) The ruling executive of revolutionary France, from 1795–1799, or the period governed by this body.

Adjective capitalized: Directoire

Directoire (comparative more Directoire, superlative most Directoire)

  1. Pertaining to a style of dress common during this period, characterised by extravagant, Classically-inspired designs.
    • My great-grandmother wore a brief empire bodice, and close-fitting Directoire skirt made of cream silk with a golden stripe running through it.1956, Ursula Bloom, Victorian Vinaigrette
    • Leafing through them now, I notice how orderly the early ones are: drawings of boxy Jasper Conran Chanel-esque jackets and gauzy Galliano directoire dresses, annotations on how "Patsy Kensit showed her bum!" at a Westwood show […].2009 August 30, Sarah Mower, The Guardian
  2. Pertaining to a style of furniture, decoration etc. prevalent during this period.
    • They prefer concerts and auctions to canasta and golf, are likely to spend the time their mothers relegated to ladies' luncheons to tracking down a Directoire commode for the foyer, just the right bronze for the living-room mantle.1964 December 4, “The New Elegants”, in Time
    • The only change was in his hair which he was now wearing in the Directoire style, the points coming down over his forehead.1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 243

Noun capitalized: Directoire

Directoire (plural Directoires)

  1. An item of clothing in this style.

Forms of directoire

Proper noun
alternative formdirectoire
Adjective
comparativemore Directoire
superlativemost Directoire
Noun
pluralDirectoires

Origin of directoire

From French directoire.

Questions about directoire

What does directoire mean?
Directoire means the ruling executive of revolutionary France, from 1795–1799, or the period governed by this body.
What is directoire the alternative form of?
Directoire is the alternative form of Directoire.
What part of speech is directoire?
Directoire can be a proper noun, an adjective or a noun.

Words near directoire in the dictionary

  1. directly proportional
  2. directmate
  3. directmates
  4. directness
  5. directnesses
  6. directoire
  7. Directoires
  8. director
  9. director circle
  10. director circles
  11. director general

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: directoire (page history and authors); Directoire (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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Cite this entry: “directoire.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/directoire. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.