dire

(dīr)

adj. dir·er, dir·est

1. Warning of or having dreadful or terrible consequences; calamitous: a dire economic forecast; dire threats.

2. Urgent; desperate: in dire need; dire poverty.

[Latin dīrus, fearsome, terrible; akin to Greek deinos.]

dire′ly adv.

dire′ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dire

(daɪə)

adj (usually prenominal)

1. Also: direful disastrous; fearful

2. desperate; urgent: a dire need.

3. foreboding disaster; ominous: a dire warning.

[C16: from Latin dīrus ominous, fearful; related to Greek deos fear]

ˈdirely adv

ˈdireness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

dire

(daɪ^ər)

adj. dir•er, dir•est.

1. causing or involving great fear or suffering; terrible.

2. indicating trouble, disaster, or the like: dire predictions.

3. urgent; desperate: in dire need.

[1560–70; < Latin dīrus fearful, unlucky]

dire′ly, adv.

dire′ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	dire - 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" desperate critical - being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency; "a critical shortage of food"; "a critical illness"; "an illness at the critical stage"
	2.	dire - 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" direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, terrible, awful, horrific, fearful alarming - frightening because of an awareness of danger

dire

adjective

1. desperate, pressing, crying, critical, terrible, crucial, alarming, extreme, awful, appalling, urgent, cruel, horrible, disastrous, grim, dreadful, gloomy, fearful, dismal, drastic, catastrophic, ominous, horrid, woeful, ruinous, calamitous, cataclysmic, portentous, godawful (slang), exigent, bodeful the dire predicament of the refugees

2. terrible, awful, appalling, dreadful, abysmal, frightful, godawful (slang) a book of verse which ranged from the barely tolerable to the utterly dire

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

dire

adjective

1. Portending future disaster:

apocalyptic, apocalyptical, baneful, direful, fateful, fire-and-brimstone, grave, hellfire, ominous, portentous, unlucky.

2. Causing or able to cause fear:

appalling, direful, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, formidable, frightful, ghastly, redoubtable, scary, terrible, tremendous.

3. Compelling immediate attention:

burning, crying, emergent, exigent, imperative, instant, pressing, urgent.

4. So serious as to be at the point of crisis or necessary to resolve a crisis:

acute, climacteric, critical, crucial, desperate.

Translations

رَهيب، مُفْزِع، مُنْذِر بِكارِثَه

hrozný

forfærdeligrisikabel

grässlich

atroz espantoso extremo funesto nefasto

hirveäkamalakauhea

extrême funeste sinistre terrible

hræîilegur, ógnòrunginn

spaventoso urgente necessit...

drausmīgsšausmīgs

gevaarlijkomineusonheilspellend sinister verschrikkelijk

horrível terrível

korkunç müthiş

可怕的

dire

[daɪəʳ] ADJ (direr (superl))

1. (= terrible) [event, consequences, results] → nefasto, funesto; [situation] → desesperado; [warning, prediction] → alarmante; [poverty] → extremo
to be in dire need of sth → necesitar algo desesperadamente
to be in dire straits → estar en un serio aprieto or apuro

2. (= awful) [film, book] → pésimo, malísimo

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

dire

[ˈdaɪə^r] adj

(= disastrous) [consequences] → terrible, désastreux/euse

(= extreme) [poverty] → extrême
to be in dire need of sth → avoir un besoin urgent de qch
to be in dire straits (financially) → être dans une situation désespérée

(pejorative) (= awful) → affreux/euse

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

dire

adj

(= serious) consequences → verheerend; warning, prediction, threat → unheilvoll; effects → katastrophal; situation → miserabel; (= desperate) → verzweifelt; the dire state of the property market → die miserable Lage auf dem Immobilienmarkt; in dire poverty → in äußerster Armut; to do something out of dire necessity → etw aus dringender Notwendigkeit tun; to be in dire need of something → etw dringend brauchen; to be in dire straits → in einer ernsten Notlage sein; the economy is in dire straits → die Wirtschaftslage ist katastrophal

(inf: = awful) → mies (inf); the standard is pretty dire → das Niveau ist unter aller Kritik (inf)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

dire

[ˈdaɪəʳ] adj (warning) → minaccioso/a; (consequences) → disastroso/a; (event) → terribile; (poverty) → nero/a
dire necessity → dura necessità
in dire straits → nei guai

dire

(ˈdaiə) adjective

dreadful; perilous.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

A private rehearsal at these lodgings, and a bargain which will fill the pockets of a grasping stranger -- such are the sacrifices which dire necessity imposes on me at starting.

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The Spaniel stopped short in dire consternation, and, after regarding the Bulldog a moment from a safe distance, said:

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how chang'd From him, who in the happy Realms of Light Cloth'd with transcendent brightnes didst outshine Myriads though bright: If he whom mutual league, United thoughts and counsels, equal hope, And hazard in the Glorious Enterprize, Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest From what highth fal'n, so much the stronger provd He with his Thunder: and till then who knew The force of those dire Arms?

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But Oedipus spurns the hypocrite, and invokes a dire curse on both his unnatural sons.

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Go to, and make your profit where ye will, Silver of Sardis change for gold of Ind; Ye will not purchase this man's burial, Not though the winged ministers of Zeus Should bear him in their talons to his throne; Not e'en in awe of prodigy so dire Would I permit his burial, for I know No human soilure can assail the gods; This too I know, Teiresias, dire's the fall Of craft and cunning when it tries to gloss Foul treachery with fair words for filthy gain.

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I glimpsed him just before he reached the doorway and the sight of him, now roaring as he perceived his lifeless fellow stretched upon the floor, and frothing at the mouth, in the extremity of his rage, filled me, I must confess, with dire forebodings.

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And if we are able thus to attack an inferior force with a superior one, our opponents will be in dire straits.

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He "had" me indeed, and in a cleft stick; for who would ever absolve me, who would consent that I should go unhung, if, by the faintest tremor of an overture, I were the first to introduce into our perfect intercourse an element so dire? No, no: it was useless to attempt to convey to Mrs.

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I drilled him as represent- ing in turn all sorts of people out of luck and suffering dire privations and misfortunes.

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He was in good spirits at his own improved prospects, for his farm was so placed that its value could be only increased by the new road; he was also relieved in mind that his wife's family would no longer be in dire poverty directly at his doorstep, so to speak.

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What flippant Frenchman was it who said in allusion to the well-known work of Zimmerman, that, "la solitude est une belle chose; mais il faut quelqu'un pour vous dire que la solitude est une belle chose?" The epigram cannot be gainsayed; but the necessity is a thing that does not exist.

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But the strange part of it was that about three in the afternoon, while this gentleman and his friends were at dinner in the hotel, a terrific storm of rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning, broke forth and continued with dire fury for two or three hours.

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