Synonyms for direction
Most common
control lead leadership guidance focus focal point route prescript
Synonyms by meaning
Noun
1. Guidance — guidance, instruction
guidance, leadership, charge, charre UK, administration, order, command, control, lead, guide, hand, authority, government, care, oversight, sway, counsel, agency, rule, conduct, commission, precept, counseling
3. Management
way, management, line, route, tendency, course, steering, inclination, drift, lane, set, bent, bearing, disposition, lanes US, tenor, carriageway UK IE
Other
instruction, address, prescription, prescript, superscription rare
Definitions
- n. 1
Guidance, instruction.
The trombonist looked to the bandleader for direction.
- n. 2
A theoretical line (physically or mentally) followed from a point of origin or towards a destination. May be relative (e.g. up, left, outbound, dorsal), geographical (e.g. north), rotational (e.g. clockwise), or with respect to an object or location (e.g. toward Boston).
Keep going in the same direction.
- n. 3
A general trend for future action.
Related words
Forms
- Plural
- directions → guidances, leaderships, charges, administrations…
Choose the right word
The direction of an object is the line of motion or of vision toward it, or the line in which the object is moving, considered from our own actual or mental standpoint.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- control Some think it is based on love, others on control.
- lead Brigham Young continued to lead the Mormon church.
- leadership Moral leadership is more powerful than any weapon.
- guidance Masao studies history under Prof. Ito's guidance.
- focus I want you to focus on a beautiful future for you.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| direction | steady | |
| control | falling | |
| lead | steady | |
| leadership | steady | |
| guidance | steady | |
| focus | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- way1, set1, aim1
- 4 letters
- care1, line1, hand1, lead1, rule1, lane1, bent1, sway1
- 5 letters
- order2, focus2, guide1, route1, lanes1, drift1, tenor2
- 6 letters
- course1, charge1, agency3, charre
- 7 letters
- control2, address2, command2, conduct2, counsel2, bearing2, precept2
- 8 letters
- guidance2, focusing3, tendency3, steering2, centring
- 9 letters
- authority4, oversight3, centering3, focussing, prescript
- 10 letters
- government3, management3, commission3, leadership3, counseling3
- 11 letters
- instruction3, disposition4, inclination4, carriageway
- 12 letters
- prescription3
- 14 letters
- administration5, superscription
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (order2 = 2 syllables).