Indirectly

How to spell indirectly

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce indirectly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does indirectly mean?

1. adverbIn a roundabout way, not by a straight or immediate route or means.

Indirectly in a sentence

• The new policy will indirectly affect everyone who rents a flat.

• She heard about the merger indirectly, through a colleague in another office.

Where does indirectly come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on 'direct', which English took from the Latin directus, the past participle of dirigere, meaning 'to set straight' or 'to guide'. That verb combined the prefix dis- (apart, in different directions) with regere 'to lead straight, to rule', a root that also gives us 'regent' and 'regular'. By the late Middle Ages 'direct' had entered English with the sense of straight or immediate, and the negative prefix 'in-' (meaning 'not') was added to form 'indirect', describing something roundabout or not straightforward. The adverb 'indirectly' simply stacks the adverb-forming '-ly' on the end, and the spelling trap lives there: writers must remember the full chain in- + direct + -ly, keeping both the 'in' and the 't' before the 'ly'.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• direct (from Latin directus: straightened, set straight)
• -ly (adverb suffix)