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# indirect

«indirect» in Mova's school dictionary: **Not going straight: an indirect route** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (indirect)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Not going straight: an indirect route. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/indirect/#m1)

2) Not said openly or plainly: an indirect answer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/indirect/#m2)

3) Happening as a side result rather than directly: an indirect cause. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/indirect/#m3)

4) (grammar) Indirect speech reports what someone said without their exact words; an indirect object receives the thing given (She gave me a book: me). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/indirect/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In grammar (indirect speech, indirect object), science (indirect evidence), maths (indirect proportion), and everyday life (indirect hints). Phrases: indirect speech, indirect object, indirect route, indirect sunlight.

### examples

- We took an indirect route through the park. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/indirect/#x1)
- He gave an indirect answer and didn't say yes or no. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/indirect/#x2)
- Direct speech: Tom said, I am hungry. Indirect speech: Tom said he was hungry. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/indirect/#x3)
- In She gave me a pen, me is the indirect object. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/indirect/#x4)
- Some plants like indirect sunlight. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/indirect/#x5)
- Smoking is an indirect cause of many illnesses. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/indirect/#x6)

### note

Opposite: direct. Adverb: indirectly. Indirect speech: no speech marks and often the tense moves back (am to was). Also called reported speech.

### In the corpora

- [An indirect request is a polite way of asking someone to do something, like "Would you mind closing the window?"](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/7-kinds-of-sentences/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «indirect» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/indirect/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.