a. | 1. | Ill-boding; portentous; |
2. | Evil in great degree; dreadful; dismal; horrible; terrible; lamentable. |
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" Synonyms: desperate |
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" |