Definition
nounDirection., Guidance; help.
Sentence Examples
Please give me your permanent address.
Write your address here.
Your essay does not address the real issues.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd
Proto-Italic *ad
Proto-Italic *ad-
Latin ad-
Old French a-
Proto-Italic *dwizrektos
Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ-
Proto-Indo-European *h₃réǵeti
Proto-Italic *dwizregō
Vulgar Latin dīrigō
Vulgar Latin dīrēctus
Proto-Indo-European *-yetider.
Vulgar Latin -iāre
Vulgar Latin *dīrēctiāre
Old French drecier
Old French adrecierbor.
Middle English adressen
English address
From Middle English adressen (“to radise erect, adorn”), from Old French adrecier (“to straighten, address”) (modern French adresser), from Proto-Romance *addīrēctiāre, from ad- (“to; towards”) + *dīrēctiāre (“to guide; to direct”), from Latin dīrēctus (“straight; right”), from dīrigō (“to lay straight; to direct”), itself from regō (“to govern, to rule”). Cognate with Spanish aderezar (“to garnish; dress (food); to add spices”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[H]e was thus agreeable, and I neither insensible of his Perfections, nor displeased at his Addresses to me […]."
— 1723, Richard Steele, The Lover and Reader, page 115:
"Mr. Gregson, who had listened to this address with considerable impatience, could contain himself no longer."
— 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, section VII:
"I watched her without knowing, with a prevision that she was going to address me, though with no sort of idea as to the subject of her address."
— 1889, Margaret Oliphant, The Portrait:
"Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much."
— 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
"This is one bad effect of a good Character—it invites applications from the unfortunate and there needs no small degree of address to gain the reputation of Benevolence without incurring the expence.—"
— 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, V.i: