dire
/ˈdaɪ̯ə(ɹ)/
dire adjective: warning of bad consequences: ill-boding; portentous.
Adjective
dire (comparative direr or more dire, superlative direst or most dire)
- Warning of bad consequences: ill-boding; portentous.
- dire omens
- Synonyms:
- foreboding, inauspicious, augurous, baleful, bodeful, boding, disastrous, divine, fatal, ill-boding
- Requiring action to prevent bad consequences: urgent, pressing.
- dire need (of)
- One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains.[…]But out of sight is out of mind. And that, together with the inherent yuckiness of the subject, means that many old sewers have been neglected and are in dire need of repair.2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891
- Expressing bad consequences: dreadful; dismal.
- dire consequences; to be in dire straits
- Cristiana Paşca Palmer, the executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said the destruction of the world’s biggest rainforest was a grim reminder that a fresh approach needed to stabilise the climate and prevent ecosystems from declining to a point of no return, with dire...2019 August 30, Jonathan Watts, “Amazon fires show world heading for point of no return, says UN”, in The Guardian
- Synonyms:
- bleak, gloomy, cheerless, comfortless, dark, morose, depressing, desolate, disconsolate, dismal
- Bad in quality, awful, terrible.
- His dire blunder allowed her to checkmate him with her next move.
- And, of course, overlooking 1 ... Q-R8 mate, would be a dire mistake.1973 May, Jack Straley Battell, “Announce the Mate!”, in Chess Life & Review
- Ferocious and of intimidating appearance, like a dire wolf.
Proper noun capitalized: Dire
Dire (plural Dires)
- A surname.
dire meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
dire in Tamil
- கடுமையான, பேரிடர் பயக்கவல்ல, சொல்
dire in Urdu
- غضب ناک, ہیبت ناک
dire in Bengali
- ভয়াবহ, চরম, অত্যন্ত গুরুতর, সংকটজনক পরিস্থিতি
dire in Malayalam
- ഭയാനകമായ, ദാരുണമായ, ആപത്സൂചകമായ, ഉഗ്രമായ, ഭീഷണമായ
More languagesFewer languages
- dire in Kannada
- ಅಗುರ್ವ, ತಲ್ಲಳಿಸುವ, ಮಲ್ಲಳಿಸುವ, ತೀವ್ರವಾದ
- dire in Arabic
- ماسّ māss
Examples of dire in a sentence
- After being shipwrecked on the island, we were in dire straits.
- Graziers on the tablelands are in dire straits because they do not have enough winter feed and will have to keep reducing stock.
- Germany’s business index shows a negative outlook with a dire picture, indicating that the broader European crisis will affect Europe’s second-largest economy.
Synonyms of dire
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of dire
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | direr |
| comparative | more dire |
| superlative | direst |
| superlative | most dire |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Dires |
Origin of dire
Borrowed from Latin dīrus (“fearful, ominous”).
Words formed from dire
Phrases with dire
Words that rhyme with dire
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- choir
- desire
- esquire
- inspire
- tire
- acquire
- admire
- empire
- respire
- sire
- transpire
- trier
- dryer
- friar
- fryer
- gyre
- lyre
- mire
- misfire
- require
- underfire
- aspire
- bemire
- buyer
- conspire
- inquire
- overfire
- perspire
- quire
- tyre
- attire
- briar
- crier
- higher
- lier
- overtire
- Pryor
- pyre
- re-retire
- retrochoir
- rewire
- supplier
- suspire
- underwire
- unretire
- afire
- byre
- drier
Questions about dire
- What does dire mean?
- Dire means warning of bad consequences: ill-boding; portentous.
- What is dire in Tamil?
- Dire in Tamil is கடுமையான, பேரிடர் பயக்கவல்ல, சொல். See Dire meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is dire?
- Dire can be an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce dire?
- Dire is pronounced /ˈdaɪ̯ə(ɹ)/.
Words near dire in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dire (page history and authors); Dire (page history and authors); dire (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dire (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Dire (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dire (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dire (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-dire.ogg.
Cite this entry: “dire.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dire. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.