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Assist vs Direct - What's the difference?

assist | direct |

As verbs the difference between assist and direct

is that assist is to stand (at a place) or to (an opinion) while direct is to manage, control, steer.

As a noun assist

is a helpful action or an act of giving.

As an adjective direct is

straight, constant, without interruption.

As an adverb direct is

directly.

assist

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (label) To stand (at a place) or to (an opinion).
    • A great part of the nobility assisted to his opinion.
  • (label) To attend
  • * 1967 , The Rev. Loren Gavitt (ed.), Saint Augustine's Prayer Book: A Book of Devotion for members of the Episcopal Church , revised edition, West Park, NY: Holy Cross Publications, p. 8:
    • To assist at Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation.
  • To help.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=April 15 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=The referee seemed well placed to award the goal, but video evidence suggested the protests were well founded and the incident only strengthens the case of those lobbying for technology to assist officials.}}
  • (sports) To make a pass that leads directly towards scoring.

    • Derived terms

    * assister * assistive

    Related terms

    * assistant * assistance

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A helpful action or an act of giving.
    • The foundation gave a much needed assist to the shelter.
  • (sports) A statistic used in different sports to quantify the act of helping another player score points or goals; in baseball, an assist is defensive, allowing a teammate to record a putout.
    • He had two assists in the game.

    Derived terms

    * assistful * assistless

    Anagrams

    * ----

    direct

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Straight, constant, without interruption.
  • Straight; not crooked, oblique, or circuitous; leading by the short or shortest way to a point or end.
    • the most direct route between two buildings
  • Straightforward; sincere.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Be even and direct with me.
  • Immediate; express; plain; unambiguous.
  • * John Locke
    • He nowhere, that I know, says it in direct words.
  • * Hallam
    • a direct and avowed interference with elections
  • In the line of descent; not collateral.
    • a descendant in the direct line
  • (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.

    • Antonyms

    * indirect

    Derived terms

    * direct action * direct current * direct flight * direct initiative * direct object * direct quote

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Directly.
  • * 2009 , Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall , Fourth Estate 2010, p. 346:
    • Presumably Mary is to carry messages that she, Anne, is too delicate to convey direct .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To manage, control, steer.
    • to direct the affairs of a nation or the movements of an army
  • To aim (something) at (something else).
    • They directed their fire towards the men on the wall.
    He directed his question to the room in general.
  • To point out or show to (somebody) the right course or way; to guide, as by pointing out the way.
    • He directed me to the left-hand road.
  • * Lubbock
    • the next points to which I will direct your attention
  • To point out to with authority; to instruct as a superior; to order.
    • She directed them to leave immediately.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I'll first direct my men what they shall do.
  • (dated) To put a direction or address upon; to mark with the name and residence of the person to whom anything is sent.
    • to direct a letter

    Related terms

    * direction * directly * director * adroit * dirge * dirigible * dress

    Anagrams

    * * ----