dire
1. causing fear or dread or terror
- the awful war
- an awful risk
- dire news
- a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked
- the dread presence of the headmaster
- polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was
- a dreadful storm
- a fearful howling
- horrendous explosions shook the city
- a terrible curse
• Syn:
awful, direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful,
fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible
• Similar to:
alarming
• Derivationally related forms:
terribleness (for: terrible), dread (for: dread), awfulness (for: awful)
2. fraught with extreme danger;
nearly hopeless
- a desperate illness
- "on all fronts the Allies were in a desperate situation due to lack of materiel"- G.C.Marshall
- a dire emergency
• Syn:
desperate
• Similar to:
critical
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