directions
- 1Instructions explaining how to reach a place or how to carry out a task.
He stopped at the gas station to get directions to the highway.
The recipe's directions called for chilling the dough overnight.
Similarinstructions, guidelines
Note
Here the word lives only in the plural. You ask for directions, follow the directions, give someone directions, and the verb agrees in the plural: the directions are on the box. Asking for 'a direction' would get you a way to face, not a route. The same plural covers both a path across town and the steps for assembling shelves or baking from a recipe.
- 2Plural of direction.
The compass needle swung between two directions before settling.
Crowds scattered in all directions after the alarm sounded.
Note
A regular plural formed with -s, and most at home with the spatial meaning of direction: the bearings a compass needle swings between, the ways a crowd can scatter. In all directions is the stock phrase for 'everywhere at once.' Direction meaning guidance can stay uncountable (she needs direction). When it does go plural, it usually narrows into the 'instructions' meaning.
directions is a form of direction
direction, noun: A line, real or imagined, followed from a starting point or toward a destination; it may be relative, geographical, or rotational. Full entry
- Forms
- directiondirections plural
- Spelling
- direction → directions: add -s
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with directions, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.