The directional antenna shown below focuses power both horizontally and vertically. (Think of our flashlight beam). This antenna might be positioned on a wall at the end of your house, and used to reach across several rooms.
This directional antenna is even more tightly focused. Nearly all the radiation is confined to a 60 degree cone, horizontally and vertically.
This antenna might be used for a point-to-point link. It would have two advantages over an omni-directional antenna: transmitter range would be extended and interference with nearby radios would be reduced.
One could even construct an antenna array in which several antennae were mounted at the same point, each radiating in a different direction.