directive

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An order or instruction, especially one issued by an authority.
• adjective Serving to direct, indicate, or guide.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In grammar, a syntactic case expressing direction toward an object: also called transitional.
• noun In a sea-anemone or coral polyp, a mesentery which forms one of the boundaries of the intermesenteric space at one of the poles of the principal axis.
• Having the power of directing; causing to take or occupy a certain direction.
• Pointing out the proper direction; guiding; prescribing; indicating.
• Capable of being directed, managed, or handled.
• Dealing with direction: as, directive algebra.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• adjective Having power to direct; tending to direct, guide, or govern; showing the way.
• adjective obsolete Able to be directed; manageable.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun An instruction or guideline that indicates how to perform an action or reach a goal.
• noun An authoritative decision from an official body, which may or may not have binding force.
• noun European Union law A form of legislative act addressed to the Member States. The directive binds the Member State to reach certain objectives in their national legislation.
• noun The directive case.
• adjective that directs
• adjective serving to direct, indicate, or guide.
• adjective grammar relating to the directive case

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• adjective showing the way by conducting or leading; imposing direction on
• noun a pronouncement encouraging or banning some activity