Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

in·di·rect       (ĭn'dĭ-rěkt', -dī-)  Pronunciation Key  adj.   Diverging from a direct course; roundabout. Not proceeding straight to the point or object. Not forthright and candid; devious. Not directly planned for; secondary: indirect benefits. Reporting the exact or approximate words of another with such changes as are necessary to bring the original statement into grammatical conformity with the sentence in which it is included: indirect discourse. Logic Involving, relating to, or being the proof of a statement by the demonstration of the impossibility or absurdity of the statement's negation. Sports Being a free kick in soccer by which a goal cannot be scored without the ball being touched by a second player. in'di·rect'ly adv., in'di·rect'ness n.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
indirect 

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

indirect
adjective
1.	having intervening factors or persons or influences; "reflection from the ceiling provided a soft indirect light"; "indirect evidence"; "an indirect cause"
2.	not direct in spatial dimension; not leading by a straight line or course to a destination; "sometimes taking an indirect path saves time"; "you must take an indirect course in sailing" [ant: direct]
3.	descended from a common ancestor but through different lines; "cousins are collateral relatives"; "an indirect descendant of the Stuarts" [syn: collateral] [ant: direct]
4.	extended senses; not direct in manner or language or behavior or action; "making indirect but legitimate inquiries"; "an indirect insult"; "doubtless they had some indirect purpose in mind"; "though his methods are indirect they are not dishonest"; "known as a shady indirect fellow" [ant: direct]
5.	not as a direct effect or consequence; "indirect benefits"; "an indirect advantage"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Indirect

In`di*rect"\, a. [Pref. in- not + direct: cf. F. indirect.]

1. Not direct; not straight or rectilinear; deviating from a direct line or course; circuitous; as, an indirect road.

2. Not tending to an aim, purpose, or result by the plainest course, or by obvious means, but obliquely or consequentially; by remote means; as, an indirect accusation, attack, answer, or proposal.

By what bypaths and indirect, crooked ways I met this crown. --Shak.

3. Not straightforward or upright; unfair; dishonest; tending to mislead or deceive.

Indirect dealing will be discovered one time or other. --Tillotson.

4. Not resulting directly from an act or cause, but more or less remotely connected with or growing out of it; as, indirect results, damages, or claims.

5. (Logic & Math.) Not reaching the end aimed at by the most plain and direct method; as, an indirect proof, demonstration, etc.

Indirect claims, claims for remote or consequential damage. Such claims were presented to and thrown out by the commissioners who arbitrated the damage inflicted on the United States by the Confederate States cruisers built and supplied by Great Britain.

Indirect demonstration, a mode of demonstration in which proof is given by showing that any other supposition involves an absurdity (reductio ad absurdum), or an impossibility; thus, one quantity may be proved equal to another by showing that it can be neither greater nor less.

Indirect discourse. (Gram.) See Direct discourse, under Direct.

Indirect evidence, evidence or testimony which is circumstantial or inferential, but without witness; -- opposed to direct evidence.

Indirect tax, a tax, such as customs, excises,