{
  "id": "directory.information",
  "term": "directory",
  "sense": "information",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 9,
  "arena": "lexicon",
  "domain": "directory",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "a collection of items in order so each has a name",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "collection.group",
      "order.arrangement",
      "name.identifier",
      "items.object"
    ],
    "interaction": "the grouping collects distinct items, the arrangement orders them, and the identifier assigns a name to each, forming a structured directory",
    "novel_properties": [
      "named positions",
      "list structure",
      "indexed access"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The Dewey Decimal System organizes books in libraries by subject, assigning each a unique numerical identifier.",
      "domain": "institutions"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Linux filesystem uses directories like /home and /etc to group files with human-readable names.",
      "domain": "computing"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Yellow Pages listed businesses by category and alphabetically by name, updated annually in print.",
      "domain": "economics"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "list.ordered",
      "note": "is-a",
      "type": "is-a"
    },
    {
      "id": "information.knowledge",
      "note": "abstracts",
      "type": "abstracts"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "directories",
    "directory"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "factual",
      "note": "Added missing 'items.object' as it is essential to the concept of a directory—without distinct items, there is nothing to organize or name. Definition was factually incomplete without it."
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-directory.information"
}