Say vs Direct - What's the difference?
Say | direct | Synonyms |
To pronounce.
To recite.
* , chapter=5
, title= To communicate, either verbally or in writing.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.}}
* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 To indicate in a written form.
(impersonal) To have a common expression; (used in singular passive voice or plural active voice to indicate a rumor or well-known fact).
* 1815 , :
* 1819 , Great Britain Court of Chancery, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery , page 8:
* 1841 , Christopher Marshall, The Knickerbocker (New-York Monthly Magazine) , page 379:
(informal, imperative) Let's say; used to mark an example, supposition or hypothesis.
* 1984 , (Martin Amis), Money: a suicide note?
To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply.
* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
* (John Milton) (1608-1674)
.
*
One's stated opinion or input into a discussion or decision.
* 2004 , Richard Rogers, Information politics on the Web
(colloquial) (non-gloss definition, Used to gain one's attention before making an inquiry or suggestion)
For example; let us assume.
(informal) (Used to introduce a hypothetical)
A type of fine cloth similar to serge.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.iv:
Trial by sample; assay; specimen.
* Hooker
* Shakespeare
Tried quality; temper; proof.
* Spenser
Essay; trial; attempt.
Straight, constant, without interruption.
Straight; not crooked, oblique, or circuitous; leading by the short or shortest way to a point or end.
Straightforward; sincere.
* Shakespeare
Immediate; express; plain; unambiguous.
* John Locke
* Hallam
In the line of descent; not collateral.
(astronomy) In the direction of the general planetary motion, or from west to east; in the order of the signs; not retrograde; said of the motion of a celestial body.
Directly.
* 2009 , Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall , Fourth Estate 2010, p. 346:
To manage, control, steer.
To aim (something) at (something else).
To point out or show to (somebody) the right course or way; to guide, as by pointing out the way.
* Lubbock
To point out to with authority; to instruct as a superior; to order.
* Shakespeare
(dated) To put a direction or address upon; to mark with the name and residence of the person to whom anything is sent.
As verbs the difference between Say and direct
is that Say is to pronounce while direct is to manage, control, steer.As adverbs the difference between Say and direct
is that Say is Used to gain one's attention before making an inquiry or suggestiondirect is directly.As a noun say
is one's stated opinion or input into a discussion or decision.As a conjunction say
is Used to introduce a hypotheticalAs an adjective direct is
straight, constant, without interruption.Say
English
(wikipedia say)Etymology 1
From (etyl) seyen, seien, seggen, &c., from (etyl) .Verb
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.}}
citation, passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said . And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.}}
- They say that Hope is happiness; But genuine Love must prize the past.
- It is said , a bargain cannot be set aside upon inadequacy only.
- It’s said that fifteen wagon loads of ready-made clothes for the Virginia troops came to, and stay in, town to-night.
- I've followed Selina down the strip, when we're shopping, say , and she strolls on ahead, wearing sawn-off jeans and a wash-withered T-shirt
- You have said ; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge.
- To this argument we shall soon have said ; for what concerns it us to hear a husband divulge his household privacies?
Synonyms
* SeeDerived terms
* dessay * doomsaying * nay-say * saith * sayeth * sayer * saying * there is much to be said * what do you say * you don't sayNoun
(en noun)- Above all, however, we would like to think that there is more to be decided, after the engines and after the humans have had their says .
References
* *Etymology 2
Grammaticalization of the verb. In the case of the conjunction, it could be considered an elision of "Let's say that" and for the "for example" sense of "Let's say"Adverb
(-)- Say , what did you think about the movie?
- Pick a color you think they'd like, say , peach.
- He was driving pretty fast, say , fifty miles per hour.
Synonyms
* (used to gain attention) heyConjunction
(English Conjunctions)- Say your family is starving and you don't have any money, is it ok to steal some food?
Etymology 3
From (etyl) saie, from (etyl) saga, plural of .Noun
(-)- All in a kirtle of discolourd say / He clothed was
Etymology 4
Aphetic form of assay.Noun
(en noun)- If those principal works of God be but certain tastes and says , as if were, of that final benefit.
- Thy tongue some say of breeding breathes.
- He found a sword of better say .
- (Ben Jonson)
Statistics
*direct
English
Adjective
(er)- the most direct route between two buildings
- Be even and direct with me.
- He nowhere, that I know, says it in direct words.
- a direct and avowed interference with elections
- a descendant in the direct line
Antonyms
* indirectDerived terms
* direct action * direct current * direct flight * direct initiative * direct object * direct quoteAdverb
(en adverb)- Presumably Mary is to carry messages that she, Anne, is too delicate to convey direct .
Verb
(en verb)- to direct the affairs of a nation or the movements of an army
- They directed their fire towards the men on the wall.
- He directed his question to the room in general.
- He directed me to the left-hand road.
- the next points to which I will direct your attention
- She directed them to leave immediately.
- I'll first direct my men what they shall do.
- to direct a letter