Guidance

Podcast 1 · Introduction

Guidance

A documentary-style narration: origin, meaning, and feel.

Part of speech

noun

Pronunciation

GY-dunss  /ˈɡaɪd(ə)ns/

Definition

Advice, information, or instruction intended to help someone make decisions or navigate a difficult situation; the process of guiding or directing; in technology, the systems that direct the course of a vehicle or missile.

Plain meaning

Guidance is the help, advice, or direction you receive when you need to navigate something — from a teacher's guidance on an essay through official guidance on a new regulation through the missile guidance system that steers a rocket.

Register

Neutral to slightly formal. Guidance is widely used in professional, educational, governmental, and personal contexts. Official guidance — government guidance, HMRC guidance, NICE guidance — is a specific and important use in British public life. Guidance counsellor is the American English equivalent of school counsellor.