directness
noun
dī-\
Definition of directness
1 : the character of being accurate in course or aim
2 : strict pertinence : straightforwardness her directness was disarming— Robin Cook
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Synonyms & Antonyms for directness
Synonyms
bluntness, candidness, candor, forthrightness, frankness, honesty, openheartedness, openness, outspokenness, plainness, plainspokenness, straightforwardness, unguardedness, unreserve, unreservedness
Antonyms
dissembling, dissimulation, indirection
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Examples of directness in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Click to Read Story Possession Soccer Is Now a Losing Strategy at the World Cup Eight years after Spain won the World Cup with a patient possession game, the best teams in Russia are characterized by their speed and directness. — Joshua Robinson, WSJ, "France, on the Brink of a World Cup Win, Has the Bleus," 13 July 2018 Both address the subject of history in a way unusual until recently for American institutions: with a truth-telling, uplift-free prosecutorial directness. — New York Times, "A Memorial to the Lingering Horror of Lynching," 1 June 2018 Indeed, Brennan’s voice is softer than his face, and different from the streetwise directness of his brother. — Mattathias Schwartz, New York Times, "A Spymaster Steps Out of the Shadows," 27 June 2018 There is a directness and often, an unmistakable manifestation of pain and frustration in these texts. — David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle, "Shandling a little less elusive, but even greater genius in Apatow documentary," 22 Mar. 2018 Blitzstein, sometimes at the risk of minstrelsy, absorbed the musical voice of the South, where the opera takes place, while writing symphonic music with the economy and directness of Copland. — Joshua Barone, New York Times, "Susan Graham, Opera’s Sweetheart, Tries Something New: Being Nasty," 5 June 2018 Their declarations of rage, triumph, fear and warning possess a directness and universality that Mr. Indiana likened to the Ten Commandments. — New York Times, "Robert Indiana’s Best: A Mini Retrospective," 23 May 2018 This is also, Tannen says, a byproduct of the double bind; because directness is often read as aggression, women learn to handle confrontation in indirect, self-consciously accommodating ways as well. — Ashley Fetters, The Cut, "The Strict, Subtle Rules of a Hey Ladies! Email," 1 May 2018 A year ago, New York Philharmonic music director-designate Jaap Van Zweden led the L.A. Phil in Shostakovich's Fifth in Disney Hall with aggressive directness. — Mark Swed, latimes.com, "Salonen's 'Pollux' supplies some grunge for L.A. Phil tour," 16 Apr. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'directness.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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