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/daɪr/ /dˈaɪər/ Listen

adjective

Dire adj. (compar. direr; superl. direst)

Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens.

Evil in great degree; dreadful; dismal; horrible; terrible; lamentable. "Dire was the tossing, deep the groans." "Gorgons and hydras and chimeras dire."

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Etymology of 'Dire'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Dire" Quotes from Famous Books

... the confessional covertly infringed, and its sanctity abused to an unhallowed purpose; while even private visitation was converted into a channel for temptation, and made the occasion of unholy freedom of words and manner. So ran the account of evil and a dire account it was. By it, all serious thoughts of religion were well nigh extinguished. The influence was fearful and polluting, the whirl of excitement inexpressible: I cannot enter into minute particulars here, every sense of feminine delicacy and womanly feeling shrink ...

— The Priest, The Woman And The Confessional • Father Chiniquy

... in the sight of high heaven. But at this season of construction and dire crisis how shall these mutual suspicions find a place? Once more I issue this announcement; if you, my fellow countrymen, do indeed place the safety of China before all other considerations, it behooves you to be large-minded. ...

— The Fight For The Republic in China • Bertram Lenox Putnam Weale

... ground. Think how they felt when the last shovelful of earth was put in, how the sense of work well done filled their breasts with satisfaction! But on that very day disaster of the most terrible kind was hanging over them, and less than twenty-four hours lay between them and dire calamity. ...

— The Voyage of the Hoppergrass • Edmund Lester Pearson

... solemn, appalling, dread, grand, noble, stately, august, dreadful, horrible, portentous, terrible, dire, fearful, imposing, ...

— English Synonyms and Antonyms - With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions • James Champlin Fernald

... hear the dire results of the interference. Sypher claimed her attention until the train was ...

— Septimus • William J. Locke

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