# indirect

Pronunciation: US say "in-duh-REKT" /ˌɪndəˈɹɛkt/; UK say "in-dy-REKT" /ˌɪndaɪˈɹɛkt/

## Adjective

1. Coming about as a secondary result rather than from an obvious or immediate cause.
   - Simple: Caused by something else as a side result, not happening straight away.
   - _Cleaner air was an indirect benefit of the new bus routes._
   - _The policy produced indirect savings by reducing later repair costs._
2. Following a roundabout course rather than the quickest, shortest, or most convenient path.
   - Simple: Not taking the shortest or easiest way, but going around instead.
   - _The river takes an indirect path through the valley before reaching the sea._
   - _Her flight home was indirect, with two long layovers along the way._
3. Not aimed straight at its target or subject, with its real purpose seeming secondary or hard to make out.
   - Simple: Not aimed straight at the real point, so the true goal stays hidden or unclear.
   - _The senator's indirect remarks hinted at a scandal without ever naming anyone._
   - _She offered an indirect criticism wrapped inside a compliment._
4. Not direct; happening or done through something or someone else rather than straight on.
   - Simple: Not done in a straight or open way, but through something or someone else.
   - _The company offered indirect support by funding a partner charity._
   - _Their influence on the decision was real but entirely indirect._

## Noun

5. A business expense that cannot be traced to a single product, project, or activity, such as rent, utilities, or administrative salaries.
   - Simple: A business cost not tied to one single product or job, such as rent or heating.
   - _The budget grouped every indirect under a single overhead line._
   - _Cutting staff did little because most of the plant's cost lay in fixed indirects._
7. A heating device concealed within or behind a building's fabric that warms a space by heating circulating air rather than by radiant heat from an exposed surface.
   - Simple: A heating unit that warms a room out of sight, by heating air rather than with a hot surface you can see.
   - _Architects of the era favored an indirect because it heated rooms without an exposed unit._
   - _The basement plant fed a row of indirects serving the upper floors._

## Verb

6. To access a value through indirection, following a pointer or reference to reach the data it identifies.
   - Simple: To reach a stored value by following a pointer that leads to where it is kept.
   - _The routine indirects each pointer before reading the memory it names._
   - _Low-level code must indirect the reference to retrieve the underlying record._

## Adjective

8. Not straightforward, fair, or honest; devious or corrupt in one's conduct or dealings. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Not honest or fair, but sly and dishonest in how someone acts.
   - _They accused the steward of indirect dealings with the visiting merchants._
   - _The magistrate scorned such indirect means of seizing another man's estate._

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Of a proof or argument, establishing a claim by showing that its denial leads to a contradiction, or by proving the contrapositive.

## Origin

From Middle French indirect, from Late Latin indirectus meaning "not direct."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/indirect (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).