dire
Americanadjective
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causing or involving great fear or suffering; dreadful; terrible.
a dire calamity.
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indicating trouble, disaster, misfortune, or the like.
dire predictions about the stock market.
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urgent; desperate.
in dire need of food.
adjective
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Also: direful. disastrous; fearful
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desperate; urgent
a dire need
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foreboding disaster; ominous
a dire warning
Other Word Forms
- direly adverb
- direness noun
Etymology
Origin of dire
First recorded in 1560–70, dire is from the Latin word dīrus fearful, unlucky
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Levy: With every character, at the beginning of this show, I’m thinking, how can we exacerbate the dire circumstances that crime would rub up against?
From Los Angeles Times
The outlook for the longer term was also dire.
From Barron's
"With the cost of living, the price of food, petrol, gas and electric. It's dire. There's no money left."
From BBC
A recent Brookings report issued dire warnings about the effects of AI on learning, saying it would lead to the “great unwiring of students’ cognitive capacities.”
The UN has warned Cuba faces "dire" supply shortages, with more than 50,000 surgeries cancelled in Cuba as fuel supply constraints and ageing infrastructure have caused multiple nationwide blackouts.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
