i Register
In some senses, directly is marked as British. Watch for register when choosing this word.
adv
In a direct manner; in a straight line or course.
He drove directly to the office, and didn't stop off at the petrol station.
On arriving at the doors, and entering a long, capacious passage, our eyes became quite dazzled by the gleams of colored light which shone upon them, both directly and reflectedly.
In a straightforward way; without anything intervening; not by secondary but by direct means.
I'm sick of asking you to fire him; I'll just do it directly.
Plainly, without circumlocution or ambiguity; absolutely; in express terms.
I'm going to tell Natalie directly that I love her.
To put it more directly: he's not 'made redundant' but sacked.
Exactly; just; at the shortest possible distance.
It's directly across the street.
The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone,[…]. Scribes, illuminators, and scholars held such stones directly over manuscript pages as an aid in seeing what was being written, drawn, or read.
Straightforwardly; honestly.
He told me directly that he'd cheated on me, and how sorry he was for it.
conj
As soon as; immediately (elliptical for directly that/as/when)
“He is, he is," Nastenka repeated. “He is here, and I know it. We made an agreement at the time, that evening, before he went away: when we said all that I have told you, and had come to an understanding, then we came out here for a walk on this embankment. It was ten o'clock; we sat on this seat. I was not crying then; it was sweet to me to hear what he said.... And he said that he would come to us directly he arrived, and if I did not refuse him, then we would tell grandmother about it all. Now he is here, I know it, and yet he does not come!"
Tenderly, reluctantly, he took his leave of her, promising that he would contact her directly he got back, perhaps in ten days or so.