What's the difference between 指摘する・指示する and 示す?


I know these verbs translate to "pointing out", "indicating" or "showing". I
was just wondering what the nuance between these words mean.




指示 and 示す are occasionally interchangeable, but 指摘 is very different from the
others.

指摘 means "to point out" in the sense of telling someone some unmentioned or
forgotten fact.

  * 彼に私の欠点を指摘された。
  * 忘れていました、指摘してくださってありがとうございます。

指示 means "to instruct, order" in most cases where it's used on its own. But
it's sometimes used as a stiff kango version of 指し示す ("to indicate, to point
(out)" in the sense of "specifying the target/object"), especially in
[compounds](https://jisho.org/search/%E6%8C%87%E7%A4%BA).

  * 部下に朝7時に出勤するよう指示した。
  * 指示代名詞 demonstrative pronoun

示す basically just means "to mean, signify, tell, represent, show". It can mean
"to point out" when the subject is something pointy (arrow, finger, a clock
hand, etc.)

  * 感謝の気持ちを示しましょう。
  * 指を使って行き先を示した。
  * 時計の針は5時を示している。

