director

• directer (archaic)
• directour (obsolete)

Borrowed from Middle French directeur and its source Late Latin dīrēctōrem, from Latin dīrēctus. By surface analysis, direct +‎ -or.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈɹɛk.tə(ɹ)/, /daɪˈɹɛk.tə(ɹ)/, /daɪ̯əˈɹɛk.tə(ɹ)/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /dɪˈɹɛk.tɚ/, /daɪˈɹɛk.tɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /dɪˈɹek.tə(ɹ)/, /dɑɪˈɹek.tə(ɹ)/
• Hyphenation: di‧rec‧tor
• Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)

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.

   • 2020 November 30, Burgess Everett, Caitlin Emma, Theodoric Meyer, “Joe Biden's 'radioactive' nominee”, in POLITICO‎^[2], archived from the original on 2 December 2020:

     The easiest way for Neera Tanden to win confirmation as Joe Biden’s budget director is for Democrats to take the Senate in January.

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")
   • 2019 March 11, Jeanne Sahadi, “Here’s how to get on a board of directors”, in CNN Business‎^[3], archived from the original on 23 May 2025:

     Being named to a board of a directors at an established company may seem out of reach — especially if you’re under 50. Or a woman. Or a minority. Or you haven’t made it to the C-suite (yet). […] Last year, S&P 500 boards named 428 new directors, according to Spencer Stuart’s Board Index. Of them, 40% were women, 17% were under 50, and only a third were active or retired CEOs.

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.

• creditor

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

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [di.ɾəkˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [di.ɾekˈtoɾ]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

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

1. guiding, regulating, directing

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

1. director
2. conductor
3. headteacher, principal

• “director”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “director” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “director”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

• diretor (reintegrationist)

From Late Latin dīrēctōrem.

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

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

1. director

• “director”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

From dīrēctus + -tor.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [diːˈreːk.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [diˈrɛk.tor]
• Hyphenation: dī‧rēc‧tor

dīrēctor m (genitive dīrēctōris, feminine dīrēctrīx); third declension

1. director, guide, overseer
   • c. 125 CE – c. 202 CE, Irenaeus, Interpres 4.21.3

Third-declension noun.

• dīrēctor in Georges, Karl Ernst; Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 1, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, column 2181
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “director”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[4], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC
• “director”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 533.

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 where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and may occur as a sporadic misspelling

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 where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and may occur as a sporadic misspelling

• “director”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French directeur.

• Audio:

  (file)

director m (plural directori, feminine equivalent directoreasă or directoriță or directriță)

1. director
2. principal

   Profesorul este cu directorul.

   The teacher is with the school principal.

Borrowed from Late Latin dīrēctōrem, from Latin dīrēctus.

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

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^[5], archived from the original on 15 August 2025:

     “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.

     “A child is in no position to understand the consequences of self-deporting, especially without the guidance of a lawyer,” said Neha Desai, senior director of immigration at the National Center for Youth Law.

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^[6], archived from the original on 2 August 2025:

     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.

• “director”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025