dire

adjective

ˈdī(-ə)r 

direr; direst

1

a

: exciting horror

dire suffering

b

: dismal, oppressive

dire days

2

: warning of disaster

a dire forecast

3

a

: desperately urgent

in dire need of assistance

b

: extreme

dire poverty

direly adverb

direness noun

Did you know?

Dire Straits and Furies

Dire and fury share a history in Roman mythology, as each of these words is connected to the Erinyes, the avenging and terrifying deities of ancient myth who tormented criminals. The Romans referred to these goddesses as either the Dirae or the Furiae. The former is from the Latin word dirus, from which dire is descended, and the latter comes from furere, from where we get fury. The word dire is often found in conjunction with straits; in dire straits is used of a situation that is very bad or difficult. Our records indicate that this phrase began to be used in English at the end of the 18th century, when it appeared in Francis Fawkes’s The Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius: “When now the heroes through the vast profound, Reach the dire straits with rocks encompass’d round.”

Synonyms

• baleful
• direful
• doomy
• foreboding
• ill
• ill-boding
• inauspicious
• menacing
• minatory
• ominous
• portentous
• sinister
• threatening

Examples of dire in a Sentence

The alleged threat posed by Yellowstone's 3,600 buffalo came from the fact that they carry brucella, a bacterium that cycles harmlessly enough in Bison bison but has considerably more dire effects on cattle. —Christopher Ketcham, Harper's, June 2008

Whether one is a lowly farmer or an urban worker, a student, professional, or a member of the elite, a meal is not complete unless rice is served to accompany the main viand of pork, fish, chicken, beef, vegetables or in the most dire circumstances, dry fish or salt. —Georgina R. Encanto, Food, April 2000

All wild tigers are threatened with extinction, but Sumatran tigers are in especially dire straits because the world's zoos have only 235 of them in captive-breeding programs. —Audubon, November-December 1998

The circumstances are now more dire than ever.

Some analysts are issuing dire economic forecasts.

They live in dire poverty.

Recent Examples on the Web

And media outlets have featured a steady run of stories asking whether the department is on the chopping block, with defenders of the department warning of the dire consequences. —Frederick Hess, Forbes, 15 Jan. 2025

For the businesswoman, the surgery wasn’t dire, but instead done out of an abundance of caution. —Angel Saunders, People.com, 15 Jan. 2025

When his mom’s cancer diagnosis grew dire, Tran managed the sadness with alcohol, the sources said. —Graham Rayman, New York Daily News, 14 Jan. 2025

Mariano said Pearce knew that Giles had no pulse in the apartment and that Cabrales was in dire condition. —James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 10 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin dīrus "(of omens) exciting horror, awful, (of physical or nonphysical things) inspiring terror, dreadful," probably going back to *dweiro-, going back to Indo-European *du̯ei̯-ro- or *du̯ei̯-so-, adjectival derivatives of the verbal base *du̯ei- "fear" — more at deinonychus

Note: The regular outcome of pre-Latin *dweiros would be *bīrus in Latin, which has led to speculation that the word has been borrowed from another Italic language. This hypothesis appears to be supported by a remark in the expanded version of the commentary on the Aeneid by the grammarian Servius, that the word dīrus was used by the Sabines and Umbrians.

First Known Use

1565, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing dire

• dire wolf
• in dire straits
• voir dire

Kids Definition

dire

adjective

ˈdī(ə)r 

direr; direst

1

: causing horror : dreadful

dire suffering

2

: warning of disaster

a dire forecast

3

: extreme entry 1 sense 1

dire need

direly adverb

direness noun