directory

[ dih-rek-tuh-ree, -tree, dahy- ]

noun

, plural di·rec·to·ries.

1. a book containing an alphabetical index of the names and addresses of persons in a city, district, organization, etc., or of a particular category of people.
2. a board or tablet on a wall of a building listing the room and floor numbers of the occupants.
3. a book of directions.
4. Computers.
   1. Also called folder. an organizing unit in a computer's file system for storing and locating files. In a hierarchical file system, directories can contain child directories subdirectories as well as files.
   2. a description of characteristics of a particular file, as the layout of fields within each record.
5. the Directory, French History. the body of five directors forming the executive power of France from 1795 to 1799.

adjective

1. serving to direct; directing; directive.

directory

¹

/ dɪˈrɛktərɪ; daɪ-; -trɪ /

noun

1. a book, arranged alphabetically or classified by trade listing names, addresses, telephone numbers, etc, of individuals or firms
2. a book or manual giving directions
3. a book containing the rules to be observed in the forms of worship used in churches
4. See directorate
   a less common word for directorate
5. computing an area of a disk, Winchester disk, or floppy disk that contains the names and locations of files currently held on that disk

adjective

1. directing

Directory

²

/ daɪ-; -trɪ; dɪˈrɛktərɪ /

noun

1. history the body of five directors in power in France from 1795 until their overthrow by Napoleon in 1799 Also known asthe French Directory

Word History and Origins

Origin of directory¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Medieval Latin dīrēctōrium, noun use of Late Latin dīrēctōrius directorial; directory indef 5, translation of French Directoire, from Medieval Latin, as above

Example Sentences

ASTA’s consumer website, TravelSense, also lets you browse its directory by agent specialty.

From Washington Post

If you are not using the Yoast SEO plugin, download and install it from the WordPress plugin directory.

From Search Engine Watch

Podcast directories and hosting services are loath to open the Pandora’s box of content moderation.

From ProPublica

Some liken nameservers to the phone directory of the internet.

From TechCrunch

Which can then be combined, producing scores for directory levels, or hostname level, for example.

From Search Engine Land

The report also names the administrator of one such targeted directory, a German computer science student named Sebastian Hahn.

From The Daily Beast

One of those counts comprises the charge that he bought an Internal Telephone Directory.

From The Daily Beast

Paranormalsocieties.com, an online national paranormal directory, has over 4,000 paranormal groups registered to its website.

From The Daily Beast

“The battery was dying so I called directory inquiries using my own phone to get a telephone number he asked for,” she said.

From The Daily Beast

Yoon's letter also noted the change to the "Blue Book"—the U.N. directory of missions.

From The Daily Beast

To guide his mind into the channel of the printed exposition, he calls into play the Directory power of the attention.

From Project Gutenberg

Instead of obeying, the officers and men held a mass meeting to draft their remonstrance to the Directory.

From Project Gutenberg

Siyes desired a man who would overthrow the Directory and establish a dictatorship: Barras was coquetting with the Bourbons.

From Project Gutenberg

The directory of 1780 gave the names of twenty-six jewellers; that of 1880 gives nearly 700, including cognate trades.

From Project Gutenberg

It was no empty boast when he wrote to the Directory asking "bread for himself and rewards for his officers."

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• almanac
• catalogue
• list
• yellow pages