'Dire' definitions:
Definition of 'dire'
From: WordNet
adjective
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, dire]
adjective
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, dire, direful, dread(a), dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible]
Definition of 'Dire'
From: GCIDE
- Dire \Dire\ (d[imac]r), a. [Compar. Direr (d[imac]r"[~e]r); superl. Direst.] [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- 1. Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Evil in great degree; dreadful; dismal; horrible; terrible; lamentable. [1913 Webster]
- Dire was the tossing, deep the groans. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- Gorgons and hydras and chimeras dire. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'dire'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abominable,
- apocalyptic,
- appalling,
- arrant,
- astounding,
- atrocious,
- awe-inspiring,
- awesome,
- awful,
- bad,
- badly off,
- baleful,
- baneful,
- base,
- beastly,
- beneath contempt,
- black,
- blameworthy,
- bodeful,
- boding,
- brutal,
- burning,
- calamitous,
- cataclysmal,
- cataclysmic,
- catastrophic,
- clamant,
- clamorous,
- climacteric,
- contemptible,
- critical,
- crucial,
- crying,
- dark,
- deplorable,
- depressed,
- depressing,
- desperate,
- despicable,
- destructive,
- detestable,
- direful,
- disastrous,
- disgusting,
- distressing,
- donsie,
- doomful,
- dread,
- dreaded,
- dreadful,
- dreary,
- egregious,
- enormous,
- evil,
- evil-starred,
- exigent,
- fatal,
- fateful,
- fell,
- fetid,
- filthy,
- flagrant,
- foreboding,
- formidable,
- fortuneless,
- foul,
- frightful,
- fulsome,
- funest,
- ghastly,
- ghoulish,
- gloomy,
- grievous,
- grim,
- grisly,
- gross,
- gruesome,
- hapless,
- hateful,
- heartbreaking,
- heinous,
- hideous,
- horrendous,
- horrible,
- horrid,
- horrific,
- horrifying,
- ill,
- ill off,
- ill-boding,
- ill-fated,
- ill-omened,
- ill-starred,
- imperative,
- importunate,
- in adverse circumstances,
- inauspicious,
- infamous,
- instant,
- lamentable,
- loathsome,
- lousy,
- lowering,
- luckless,
- macabre,
- menacing,
- monstrous,
- morbid,
- nasty,
- nefarious,
- noisome,
- notorious,
- obnoxious,
- odious,
- of evil portent,
- offensive,
- ominous,
- out of luck,
- outrageous,
- pitiable,
- pitiful,
- planet-struck,
- portending,
- portentous,
- rank,
- redoubtable,
- regrettable,
- reprehensible,
- repulsive,
- rotten,
- ruinous,
- sad,
- scandalous,
- schlock,
- schrecklich,
- scurvy,
- shabby,
- shameful,
- shocking,
- shoddy,
- short of luck,
- sinister,
- somber,
- sordid,
- squalid,
- star-crossed,
- terrible,
- terrific,
- threatening,
- too bad,
- tragic,
- tremendous,
- unblessed,
- unclean,
- underprivileged,
- unfavorable,
- unfortunate,
- unhappy,
- unlucky,
- unpromising,
- unpropitious,
- unprosperous,
- unprovidential,
- unspeakable,
- untoward,
- urgent,
- vile,
- villainous,
- woeful,
- worst,
- worthless,
- wreckful,
- wretched