different between directive vs authority

English

Etymology

From Middle French directif. The noun senses are from French directive (feminine form of the adjective).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /da????k.t?v/, /d????k.t?v/
• (US) IPA^(key): /d????k.t?v/
• Rhymes: -?kt?v

Adjective

directive (not comparable)

1. that directs; serving to direct, indicate, or guide
   • 2002, Colin Gray, Enterprise and Culture (page 54)

     A directive management style is stronger among owners with 'lifestyle' as a business objective than among those with business/economic objectives.

2. (grammar) relating to the directive case

Related terms

• directively
• directiveness

Translations

Noun

directive (plural directives)

1. An instruction or guideline that indicates how to perform an action or reach a goal.
2. (programming) A construct in source code that indicates how it should be processed but is not necessarily part of the program to be run.
3. An authoritative decision from an official body, which may or may not have binding force.
4. (European Union law) A form of legislative act addressed to the member states. The directive binds the member state to reach certain objectives in their national legislation.
5. (grammar) The directive case.

Translations

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.??k.tiv/
• Rhymes: -iv
• Homophone: directives

Adjective

directive

1. feminine singular of directif

Noun

directive f (plural directives)

1. directive, general instructions, guideline

Further reading

• “directive” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Alternative forms

• authourity, authoritie, autority, auctoritie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English auctorite, autorite (“authority, book or quotation that settles an argument”), from Old French auctorité, from Latin stem of auct?rit?s (“invention, advice, opinion, influence, command”), from auctor (“master, leader, author”). For the presence of the h, compare the etymology of author.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???????ti/, /???????ti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??????ti/, /??????ti/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /???t???ti/
• Hyphenation: au?thor?i?ty
• Rhymes: -???ti

Noun

authority (countable and uncountable, plural authorities)

1. (uncountable) The power to enforce rules or give orders.
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V

     But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.

2. (used in singular or plural form) Persons in command; specifically, government.
3. (countable) A person accepted as a source of reliable information on a subject.
   • 1930 September 18, Albert Einstein, as quoted in Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel (1988) by Banesh Hoffman

     To punish me for my contempt of authority, Fate has made me an authority myself.

4. Government-owned agency which runs a revenue-generating activity.

   New York Port Authority

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• have something on good authority

References

• authority at OneLook Dictionary Search
• authority in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• authority in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.