director

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French directeur and its source Late Latin dīrēctor, dīrēctōrem, from Latin dīrēctus.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /dɪˈɹɛktə(ɹ)/, /daɪˈɹɛktə(ɹ)/, /daɪ̯əˈɹɛktə(ɹ)/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /dɪˈɹɛktɚ/, /daɪˈɹɛktɚ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)

Noun

director (plural directors)

  1. One who directs; the person in charge of managing a department or directorate (e.g., director of engineering), project, or production (as in a show or film, e.g., film director).
    • 2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America[1], archived from the original on 7 February 2019:
      Francis Gurry is director of WIPO.
  2. A member of a board of directors.
    • [...] the confusion between directors who know nothing and managers who know everything [...].- Anthony Trollope: Phineas Redux (1873), Chapter 60 ("Two Days before the Trial")
  3. A counselor, confessor, or spiritual guide.
  4. That which directs or orientates something.
    • 1971, United States. Office of Saline Water, Distillation Digest, volume 3, page 76:
      Installed longer flow director; it now just covers the entire diameter of the 6-in. brine return nozzle, and is 4 in. high []
  5. (military) A device that displays graphical information concerning the targets of a weapons system in real time.
  6. (chemistry) The common axis of symmetry of the molecules of a liquid crystal.
  7. (electronics) A component of a Yagi–Uda antenna.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin dīrēctōrem, from Latin dīrēctus. First attested in 1696.[1]

Pronunciation

Adjective

director (feminine directora, masculine plural directors, feminine plural directores)

  1. guiding, regulating, directing

Noun

director m (plural directors, feminine directora, feminine plural directores)

  1. director
  2. conductor
  3. headteacher, principal

References

  1. ^ director”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.

Further reading

Galician

Etymology

From Late Latin dīrēctōrem.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /diɾɛkˈtoɾ/ [d̪i.ɾɛkˈt̪oɾ]
  • Rhymes: -oɾ
  • Hyphenation: di‧rec‧tor

Noun

director m (plural directores, feminine directora, feminine plural directoras)

  1. director

Derived terms

Further reading

Portuguese

Adjective

director (feminine directora, masculine plural directores, feminine plural directoras)

  1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of diretor. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

Noun

director m (plural directores, feminine directora, feminine plural directoras)

  1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of diretor. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French directeur.

Pronunciation

  • Audio:(file)

Noun

director m (plural directori)

  1. director
  2. principal
    Profesorul este cu directorul.
    The teacher is with the school principal.

Declension

Declension of director
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative director directorul directori directorii
genitive-dative director directorului directori directorilor
vocative directorule directorilor

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin dīrēctōrem, from Latin dīrēctus.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /diɾeɡˈtoɾ/ [d̪i.ɾeɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
  • Rhymes: -oɾ
  • Syllabification: di‧rec‧tor

Noun

director m (plural directores, feminine directora, feminine plural directoras)

  1. director
    • 2025 July 23, Priscilla Alvarez, “El Gobierno de Trump toma medidas para acelerar la deportación de menores migrantes y les ofrece opción de "autodeportarse"”, in CNN en Español[2]:
      “Un niño no está en condiciones de entender las consecuencias de autodeportarse especialmente sin la orientación de un abogado”, dijo Neha Desai, directora de Derechos Humanos de la Infancia en el National Center for Youth Law.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. conductor (of a musical ensemble)
  3. (school) principal, headmaster
  4. editor (person at a newspaper, publisher or similar institution who edits stories and/or decides which ones to publish)
    Synonym: editor
    • 2015 September 8, “Allá en tu colonia pobre es #Pobrezafilia [#Pobrezafilia is there in your poor neighborhood]”, in El Mañana de Reynosa[3]:
      En julio de este año, Miguel Ángel González Trujillo, director general de la revista IZQ, escribió una editorial criticando el hashtag #pobrezafilia. Una semana después, dicha editorial fue reproducida en el sitio del Consejo Nacional Para Prevenir la Discriminación, Conapred.
      In July of this year, Miguel Ángel González Trujillo, general director of the magazine IZQ, wrote an editorial criticizing the hashtag #pobrezafilia. The following week the editorial was reproduced on the website of the National Council to Prevent Discrimination, Conapred.

Derived terms

Further reading