Direct vs Towards - What's the difference?
direct | towards |
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.
Variant of toward.
* 1835 , Sir , Sir (James Clark Ross),
* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
, title= (obsolete) In the direction of something (indicated by context).
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.iv:
(obsolete) Near; at hand; in state of preparation; toward.
* Shakespeare
As adjectives the difference between direct and towards
is that direct is straight, constant, without interruption while towards is (obsolete) near; at hand; in state of preparation; toward.As adverbs the difference between direct and towards
is that direct is directly while towards is (obsolete) in the direction of something (indicated by context).As a verb direct
is to manage, control, steer.As a preposition towards is
variant of toward.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
Anagrams
* * ----towards
English
Preposition
(en-prep) (mainly in British English )Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage …, Volume 1, pp.284-5
- Towards the following morning, the thermometer fell to 5°; and at daylight, there was not an atom of water to be seen in any direction.
Everton 0-2 Liverpool, passage=But with Goodison Park openly directing its full hostility towards Atkinson, Liverpool went ahead when Carroll turned in his first Premier League goal of the season after 70 minutes.}}
Synonyms
* towardUsage notes
* Although some have tried to discern a semantic distinction between the words (term) and (towards), the difference is merely dialectal. (term) is the most common form, while (toward) tends to appear only in American English.See also
* SeeAdverb
(en adverb)- Thus as he spake, lo far away they spyde / A varlet running towards hastily [...].
Adjective
(-)- We have a trifling foolish banquet / Towards .