Definition of "indirect" []

• Diverging from a direct course; roundabout. (adjective)
• Not proceeding straight to the point or object. (adjective)
• Not forthright and candid; devious. (adjective)
• Not directly planned for; secondary: indirect benefits. (adjective)
• 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. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "They were crammed with what we term indirect workers—workers on their way to relieve a fellow employee, machine repairers en route to troubleshoot a problem, housekeepers, inventory runners."
• "In a small group, say a village, what we call indirect reciprocity bestows tremendous advantages, by allowing me to benefit from the experience that others in our clan had when dealing with you."
• "What they've been doing is what we call indirect attack."