Indirect

From Middle French indirect, from Late Latin indirectus

Full definition of indirect

1974, Thomas S. Szasz, M.D., The Myth of Mental Illness Chapter 8Indirect messages permit communicative contacts when, without them, the alternatives would be total inhibition, silence, and solitude on the one hand, or, on the other, communicative behavior that is direct, offensive, and hence forbidden. This is a painful choice. In actual practice, neither alternative is likely to result in the gratification of personal or sexual needs. In this dilemma, indirect communications provide a useful compromise. As an early move in the dating game, the young man might invite the young woman to dinner or to the movies.

(plural indirects)

2010, Anna M. Gil-Lafuente and JosÃ© M. MerigÃ³ (editos), Computational Intelligence in Business and EconomicsGradually analytical thinking was taking a greater awareness of the importance it took for all the investigation system of the possible identification or traceability of fixed costs and, in general, of the indirects of other times.
2002, Peter Watermeyer, Handbook for Process Plant Project EngineersIn the case of a piece of equipment such as a pump, the supplier's costs may be broken down into the directs of labour, material, and component costs on the one hand, and the indirects of customized engineering, sales, factory overheads, and order management costs on the other.