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Definition of indirect : 1. Not direct; not straight or rectilinear; deviating from a direct line or course; circuitous; as, an indirect road.
2. Not reaching the end aimed at by the most plain and direct method; as, an indirect proof, demonstration, etc.
3. Not resulting directly from an act or cause, but more or less remotely connected with or growing out of it; as, indirect results, damages, or claims.
4. Not straightforward or upright; unfair; dishonest; tending to mislead or deceive.
5. Not tending to an aim, purpose, or result by the plainest course, or by obvious means, but obliquely or consequentially; by remote means; as, an indirect accusation, attack, answer, or proposal.

Synonyms:

excursive, circular, cutting, confirmative, mediate, circuitous, biting, asquint, digressive, askant, diversionary, askance, sidelong, squinty, corroboratory, ensuing, underhanded, thus, corroborative, anfractuous, guileful, secondary, verifying, lubricious, cheap, squint, validatory, periphrastic, straight, mealymouthed, knock-on, validating, substantiating, discursive, collateral, roundabout, astringent, acid, squint-eyed, consequently, honest, wandering, coded, oblique, from, confirming, circumlocutious, circumlocutory, meandering, twisty, mealy-mouthed, duplicitous, winding, bland, underhand, tortuous, hence, by virtue of something, hearsay, allusive, therefore, disingenuous, confirmatory, backhanded, verificatory, acrid, rambling, shifty, accordingly, sneaky, as a consequence/in consequence, substantiative, ambagious

incidental, landmark, circumstantial, uncertain, inferential, eventual, episodic, presumptive, inconclusive, occasional

erratic, twisting, aberrant, long, long-winded, complicated, zigzag, crooked, subsidiary, obscure, out-of-the-way, auxiliary

implicit, elusive, implied, insinuated, subtle, delicate

crosswise, slanting, angled, deviated, devious, bent, sloping, biased, leaning, diagonal, inclined, aslant

Usage examples:

• Thus, reasonings in logical form and reflection regarding a decision to be made have a feeble tendency to become changed into acts; their motor effects are indirect, and at a long range. - "Essay on the Creative Imagination", Th. Ribot.
• But, guided by indirect evidence, we may safely conclude that here too the law holds. - "Essays: Scientific, Political, & Speculative, Vol. I", Herbert Spencer.
• To have Marchand arrested for conspiracy to commit a crime was a business which would gravely interfere with his freedom of motion in the near future, would create complications which might cripple his own purposes in indirect ways. - "The World For Sale, Volume 2.", Gilbert Parker.