DIRECTNESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does directness mean? 

• DIRECTNESS (noun)
  The noun DIRECTNESS has 2 senses:

1. trueness of course toward a goal

2. the quality of being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech

  Familiarity information: DIRECTNESS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DIRECTNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Trueness of course toward a goal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

directness; straightness

Context example:

rivaling a hawk in directness of aim

Hypernyms ("directness" is a kind of...):

characteristic (a distinguishing quality)

Attribute:

direct (direct in spatial dimensions; proceeding without deviation or interruption; straight and short)

indirect (not direct in spatial dimension; not leading by a straight line or course to a destination)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "directness"):

downrightness; straightforwardness (the quality of being direct and straightforward)

immediacy; immediateness (lack of an intervening or mediating agency)

pointedness (the quality of being obviously directed at a particular person or thing)

Antonym:

indirectness (having the characteristic of lacking a true course toward a goal)

Derivation:

direct (being an immediate result or consequence)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

candidness; candor; candour; directness; forthrightness; frankness

Hypernyms ("directness" is a kind of...):

honestness; honesty (the quality of being honest)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "directness"):

ingenuousness (openly straightforward or frank)

Derivation:

direct (straightforward in means or manner or behavior or language or action)

 Context examples 

He betrayed the inaccuracies of the self-read man, and, it must be granted, the sureness and directness of the primitive mind.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“I’ve got a sled standing outside now, with twenty fiftypound sacks of flour on it,” Matthewson went on with brutal directness; “so don’t let that hinder you.”

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

They were not prepared for his swiftness and directness, for his attack without warning.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

There was a brutal directness about his methods which made evasion difficult.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was an unceremonious directness, a searching, decided steadfastness in his gaze now, which told that intention, and not diffidence, had hitherto kept it averted from the stranger.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He was splendidly muscled, a heavy man, and though he strode with the certitude and directness of the physical man, there was nothing heavy about his stride.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)