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INDIRECT
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not direct in spatial dimension; not leading by a straight line or course to a destination
Example:
you must take an indirect course in sailing
Classified under:
Similar:
askance; askant; asquint; sidelong; squint; squint-eyed; squinty ((used especially of glances) directed to one side with or as if with doubt or suspicion or envy)
circuitous; devious; roundabout (deviating from a straight course)
diversionary ((of tactics e.g.) likely or designed to confuse or deceive)
meandering; rambling; wandering; winding (of a path e.g.)
Also:
crooked (having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned)
Attribute:
directness; straightness (trueness of course toward a goal)
Antonym:
direct (direct in spatial dimensions; proceeding without deviation or interruption; straight and short)
Derivation:
indirectness (having the characteristic of lacking a true course toward a goal)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Extended senses; not direct in manner or language or behavior or action
Example:
known as a shady indirect fellow
Classified under:
Similar:
tortuous (not straightforward)
mealy-mouthed; mealymouthed (hesitant to state facts or opinions simply and directly as from e.g. timidity or hypocrisy)
hearsay (heard through another rather than directly)
digressive; discursive; excursive; rambling ((of e.g. speech and writing) tending to depart from the main point or cover a wide range of subjects)
devious; oblique (indirect in departing from the accepted or proper way; misleading)
ambagious; circumlocutious; circumlocutory; periphrastic (roundabout and unnecessarily wordy)
circuitous; roundabout (marked by obliqueness or indirection in speech or conduct)
backhanded (roundabout or ambiguous)
allusive (characterized by indirect references)
Antonym:
direct (straightforward in means or manner or behavior or language or action)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Having intervening factors or persons or influences
Example:
an indirect cause
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
mediate (acting through or dependent on an intervening agency)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Descended from a common ancestor but through different lines
Example:
an indirect descendant of the Stuarts
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Also:
related (connected by kinship, common origin, or marriage)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Not as a direct effect or consequence
Example:
an indirect advantage
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
secondary (being of second rank or importance or value; not direct or immediate)
Derivation:
indirectness (having the characteristic of lacking a true course toward a goal)
Context examples:
Direct or indirect interaction between individuals or organizations.
(Personal Contact, NCI Thesaurus)
Indirect ophthalmoscopy gives a wider view inside the eye than an exam using an ophthalmoscope does.
(Indirect ophthalmoscopy, NCI Dictionary)
Damage inflicted on any part of cardiovascular system as the direct or indirect result of an external force, with or without disruption of structural continuity.
(Cardiovascular Injury, NIH CRISP Thesaurus)
Measurements may also be indirect, by such assessments as respiratory rate and effort, withdrawal, guarding, or other appropriate assessment techniques.
(Pain Assessment, NCI Thesaurus)
Because it seemed to me to have an indirect bearing upon the mystery of Woodman’s Lee.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
These changes have the potential to affect human health in direct and indirect ways.
(Climate Change, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
An indirect pain assessment scale used by nurses and other professionals to evaluate level of pain/discomfort in demented or otherwise uncommunicative patients. (Kanner).
(Discomfort Scale for Patients with Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type, NCI Thesaurus)
This results in the secretion of cytokines and induces the recruitment and activation of other immune cells, which may result in indirect tumoricidal or cytostatic effects.
(Almurtide, NCI Thesaurus)
The investigators also sought indirect evidence of enterovirus infection by looking for antibodies to enteroviruses made by the immune system in response to an infection.
(Enterovirus antibodies detected in acute flaccid myelitis patients, National Institutes of Health)
Their threats were, however, mingled with some sort of indirect apology for the defeat of the two of them by a feeble madman.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
