dire Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless
    desperate.
    • a desperate illness
    • on all fronts the Allies were in a desperate situation due to lack of materiel"- G.C.Marshall
    • a dire emergency
  2. adjective satellite causing fear or dread or terror
    dreadful; direful; horrific; fearful; frightening; terrible; dread; horrendous; awful; dreaded; fearsome.
    • 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

WordNet

Dire adjective
Etymology
L. dirus; of uncertain origin.
Wordforms
comparative Direr ; superlative Direst
Definitions
  1. Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens.
  2. Evil in great degree; dreadful; dismal; horrible; terrible; lamentable.
    Dire was the tossing, deep the groans. Milton.
    Gorgons and hydras and chimeras dire. Milton.

Webster 1913