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
Etymology
Origin of dire
First recorded in 1560–70, dire is from the Latin word dīrus fearful, unlucky
Explanation
Dire refers to situations or events that cause great fear and worry. A dire calamity causes much suffering. If a family is in dire need, they need immediate help. Dire predictions or warnings tell us that a disaster may happen in the future. If you are trapped between the burning building behind you and the high cliffs in front of you, you might describe yourself as being in dire straits.
Vocabulary lists containing dire
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 2
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"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act I
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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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.
See Examples For:
For Debbie Wills, who has spent nearly 40 years working with black lung patients at Valley Health Systems, the situation is all the more dire because the disease is "totally preventable."
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
The need for R&R is especially dire during wartime, when their stations take on life-and-death intensity.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
Bye - who has a six-year-old dalmatian, two springer spaniels and a cat - said her family were "financially stable" when they got their pets but a year later were in "dire straits".
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
The move comes as the Willowbrook hospital faces a dire financial picture, as The Times reported this month.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Countless were the times she had read of people caught in frightening circumstances; when things seemed at their most dire, inevitably these unlucky people would be described as having “a shiver run down their spines.”
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
Rademacher said the showers will continue into at least Monday, with the midweek looking a bit direr.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 2, 2024
The TV series balances humor and tragedy like the film did; however, it’s clear in the episodes that things are direr now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2023
The fallout from that could be direr than you anticipate.
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2022
It’s just that recent-years playoffs might have made Georgia’s plight seem direr.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 29, 2021
Tell you, captain," he called out, "this has been a direr convulsion of nature than you have any idea.
From Cobwebs from an Empty Skull by Ambrose Bierce
Chris Young grew up in Clarksville, Tenn., in the direst imaginable circumstances — unimaginable, in fact, to many of us.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
A recent drought saw the three direst years on record, which dropped reservoirs around the state to dangerously low levels and prompted mandatory rationing and even caused some hydroelectric power plants to shut down.
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2024
Unison's head of local government Mike Short said town halls were in the "direst of states".
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2023
And the direst threats to it involve figures claiming not to care about how their actions on one side affect the other.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2022
He looked about him, saw no friend—saw he was abandoned—saw only the muskets of direst enemy—smiled, and offered to sell us the clothes press for a guinea.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
