dire

Meaning

1. Warning of bad consequences: ill-boding; portentous.
2. Requiring action to prevent bad consequences: urgent, pressing.
3. Expressing bad consequences: dreadful; dismal.
4. (informal) Bad in quality, awful, terrible.

Synonyms

awful

horrible

dreadful

frightful

ghastly

terrible

horrendous

extreme

appalling

dreaded

horrific

desperate

horrid

direful

eerie

dread

grisly

atrocious

hideous

bitter

evil

fearful

😨

fearsome

formidable

frightening

morbid

nethermost

obnoxious

odious

outermost

parlous

provoking

rearmost

redoubtable

repulsive

serious

shitty

sunless

ultimate

ultra

utmost

uttermost

dreich

abject

drearsome

abominable

appaling

baneful

beastly

chilling

colorless

cruel

dark

deadly

deathly

depressing

disconsolate

dismal

drab

dramatic

drastic

drear

god-awful

grave

🪦

gross

gruesome

hindmost

insufferable

law-abiding

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈdaɪ̯ə(ɹ)/

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dīrus (“fearful, ominous”).