DIRE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Dire

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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

... Dire outcries greeted the decision. Aunt Jane wept, and Chris wept, and said this never could have happened to him if his aunt had lived. Oaths flowed from Captain Magnus in a turgid stream. Nevertheless the twain were led away, firmly bound, and guarded by Dugald, ...

— Spanish Doubloons • Camilla Kenyon

... we cannot stop, even for a moment. You know that only the most urgent necessity would make us forego the pleasure of a brief rest beneath your roof—the Kofedix will presently give you the measure of that dire need. We shall endeavor to return soon. Greetings, and, ...

— Skylark Three • Edward Elmer Smith

... non-co-operation. The Mussalman representation has requested your Excellency to lead the agitation yourself, as did your distinguished predecessor at the time of the South African trouble. But if you cannot see your way to do so, and non-co-operation becomes a dire necessity, I hope that your Excellency will give those who have accepted my advice and myself the credit for being actuated by nothing less than a stern ...

— Freedom's Battle - Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation • Mahatma Gandhi

... felicitous provision of Nature herself. It was on the 10th of March that the captain and Lieutenant Procope started off once more to investigate the northwest corner of the island; on their way their conversation naturally was engrossed by the subject of the dire necessities which only too manifestly were awaiting them. A discussion more than usually animated arose between them, for the two men were not altogether of the same mind as to the measures that ought to be adopted in order to open the fairest chance of ...

— Off on a Comet • Jules Verne

... anointing of Pippin in accordance with the ancient Jewish custom, first by St. Boniface and then by the pope himself, "a German chieftain was," as Gibbon expresses, it "transformed into the Lord's anointed." The pope uttered a dire anathema of divine vengeance against any one who should attempt to supplant the holy and meritorious race of Pippin. It became a religious duty to obey the king. He came to be regarded by the Church, when he had duly received its sanction, as ...

— An Introduction to the History of Western Europe • James Harvey Robinson

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