indirect -
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"
direct lacking compromising or mitigating elements; exact; "the direct opposite"
allusive characterized by indirect references; "allusive speech is characterized by allusions"
backhanded roundabout or ambiguous; "attacks from that source amounted to a backhanded compliment to his integrity"; "a backhanded and dishonest way of reaching his goal"
circuitous,
roundabout marked by obliqueness or indirection in speech or conduct; "the explanation was circuitous and puzzling"; "a roundabout paragraph"; "hear in a roundabout way that her ex-husband was marrying her best friend"
ambagious,
circumlocutious,
circumlocutory,
periphrastic roundabout and unnecessarily wordy; "had a preference for circumlocutious (or circumlocutory) rather than forthright expression"; "A periphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion,/ Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle/ With words and meanings."-T.S.Eliot; (`ambagious' is archaic)
oblique,
devious slanting or inclined in direction or course or position--neither parallel nor perpendicular nor right-angled; "the oblique rays of the winter sun"; "acute and obtuse angles are oblique angles"; "the axis of an oblique cone is not perpendicular to its base"
excursive,
digressive,
discursive,
rambling (of e.g. speech and writing) tending to depart from the main point or cover a wide range of subjects; "amusingly digressive with satirical thrusts at women's fashions among other things"; "a rambling discursive book"; "his excursive remarks"; "a rambling speech about this and that"
hearsay heard through another rather than directly; "hearsay information"
mealy-mouthed,
mealymouthed hesitant to state facts or opinions simply and directly as from e.g. timidity or hypocrisy; "a mealymouthed politician"
indirect -
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"
direct lacking compromising or mitigating elements; exact; "the direct opposite"
crooked having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned; "crooked country roads"; "crooked teeth"
directness,
straightness trueness of course toward a goal; "rivaling a hawk in directness of aim"
askance,
askant,
asquint,
squint,
squint-eyed,
squinty,
sidelong (used especially of glances) directed to one side with or as if with doubt or suspicion or envy; "her eyes with their misted askance look"- Elizabeth Bowen; "sidelong glances"
circuitous,
roundabout,
devious marked by obliqueness or indirection in speech or conduct; "the explanation was circuitous and puzzling"; "a roundabout paragraph"; "hear in a roundabout way that her ex-husband was marrying her best friend"
diversionary (of tactics e.g.) likely or designed to confuse or deceive
indirect -
not as a direct effect or consequence; "indirect benefits"; "an indirect advantage"
indirect -
having intervening factors or persons or influences; "reflection from the ceiling provided a soft indirect light"; "indirect evidence"; "an indirect cause"
Indirect -
descended from a common ancestor but through different lines; "cousins are collateral relatives"; "an indirect descendant of the Stuarts"
