DIRE: Synonyms and Related Words. What is Another Word for DIRE?

Need another word that means the same as “dire”? Find 44 synonyms and 30 related words for “dire” in this overview.

The synonyms of “Dire” are: desperate, awful, direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible, appalling, frightful, horrible, atrocious, grim, unspeakable, distressing, harrowing, alarming, shocking, outrageous, urgent, pressing, crying, sore, grave, serious, extreme, acute, drastic, ominous, portentous, gloomy, sinister, substandard, bad, deficient, defective, faulty, imperfect, inferior, mediocre

Dire as an Adjective

Definitions of "Dire" as an adjective

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “dire” as an adjective can have the following definitions:

• Extremely serious or urgent.
• (of a warning or threat) presaging disaster.
• Causing fear or dread or terror.
• Fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless- G.C.Marshall.
• Of a very poor quality.
• Fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless.

Synonyms of "Dire" as an adjective (44 Words)

acute	Denoting or designed for patients with an acute form of a disease. An acute ward.
alarming	Worrying or disturbing. Our countryside is disappearing at an alarming rate.
appalling	Causing consternation. His conduct was appalling.
atrocious	Of a very poor quality; extremely bad or unpleasant. An atrocious automobile accident.
awful	Extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact. An awful speech.
bad	Feeling physical discomfort or pain tough is occasionally used colloquially for bad. A bad mistake.
crying	Demanding attention. A crying baby.
defective	Having a defect. A defective appliance.
deficient	Of a quantity not able to fulfill a need or requirement. Deficient in common sense.
desperate	Desperately determined. There is a desperate shortage of teachers.
direful	Extremely bad; dreadful. A career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked.
distressing	Causing distress or worry or anxiety. Distressing or disturbing news.
drastic	Forceful and extreme and rigorous. Drastic measures.
dread	Greatly feared dreadful. Polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was.
dreaded	Causing fear or dread or terror. Polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was.
dreadful	Causing or involving great suffering, fear, or unhappiness; extremely bad or serious. The weather was dreadful.
extreme	Of the greatest possible degree or extent or intensity. Groups of his more extreme supporters rioted in front of parliament.
faulty	Having a defect. Faulty logic.
fearful	Lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted- P.B.Shelley. A fearful glance.
fearsome	Frightening, especially in appearance. The cat mewed displaying a fearsome set of teeth.
frightening	Making someone afraid or anxious; terrifying. A frightening experience.
frightful	Provoking horror- Winston Churchill. A frightful mistake.
gloomy	Causing dejection. A gloomy corridor badly lit by oil lamps.
grave	Of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought. Grave responsibilities.
grim	Depressing or worrying to consider. His grim expression.
harrowing	Extremely painful. It was a harrowing experience.
horrendous	Extremely unpleasant, horrifying, or terrible. She suffered horrendous injuries.
horrible	Causing or likely to cause horror; shocking. The tea tasted horrible.
horrific	Grossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror. Horrific injuries.
imperfect	Not perfect; faulty or incomplete. An imperfect grasp of English.
inferior	Of low or inferior quality. Inferior goods.
mediocre	Of only average quality; not very good. He is an enthusiastic if mediocre painter.
ominous	Giving the worrying impression that something bad is going to happen; threateningly inauspicious. Ominous rumblings of discontent.
outrageous	Very bold and unusual and rather shocking. The outrageous claims made by the previous government.
portentous	Done in a pompously or overly solemn manner so as to impress. The author s portentous moralizings.
pressing	Expressing something strongly or persistently. He had pressing business in Scotland.
serious	Acting or speaking sincerely and in earnest, rather than in a joking or half-hearted manner. A serious book.
shocking	Causing indignation or disgust; offensive. Shocking behaviour.
sinister	Giving the impression that something harmful or evil is happening or will happen. There might be a more sinister motive behind the government s actions.
sore	(of a part of one’s body) painful or aching. We re in sore need of him.
substandard	Below the usual or required standard. Substandard spellings.
terrible	Intensely or extremely bad or unpleasant in degree or quality. Terrible handwriting.
unspeakable	Too bad or horrific to express in words. I felt an unspeakable tenderness towards her.
urgent	Of an action or event done or arranged in response to an urgent situation. She needs urgent treatment.

Usage Examples of "Dire" as an adjective

• A dire emergency.
• He was in dire need of help.
• There were dire warnings from the traffic organizations.
• A career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked.
• The concert was dire.
• Misuse of drugs can have dire consequences.
• Dire news.

Associations of "Dire" (30 Words)

abominable	Unequivocally detestable- Edmund Burke. Abominable workmanship.
atrocious	Provoking horror. Atrocious taste.
awful	Awfully very. We re an awful long way from the motorway.
bitter	Beer that is strongly flavoured with hops and has a bitter taste brewed by top fermentation. Bitter about the divorce.
dolorous	Feeling or expressing great sorrow or distress. A dolorous and repetitive tale of atrocity.
dreadful	Exceptionally bad or displeasing. There s been a dreadful accident.
enormity	A grave crime or sin. In careful usage the noun enormity is not used to express the idea of great size.
frightful	Extremely distressing. There s been a most frightful accident.
grave	A place where a broken or discarded object lies. Faced a grave decision in a time of crisis.
grief	An instance or cause of intense sorrow. Her death was a great grief to John.
grievous	Shockingly brutal or cruel. Grievous bodily harm.
grim	Causing dejection. The grim task of burying the victims.
heartrending	Causing or marked by grief or anguish. The heartrending words of Rabin s granddaughter.
hellish	Extremely difficult or unpleasant. An unearthly hellish landscape.
horrible	Very unpleasant. A horrible massacre.
horrific	Grossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror. Horrific conditions in the mining industry.
introspection	The examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional processes. Quiet introspection can be extremely valuable.
lamentable	(of circumstances or conditions) very bad; deplorable. The industry is in a lamentable state.
mournful	Expressing sorrow. Mournful music.
sad	Of things that make you feel sad. I was sad and subdued.
sadly	To a regrettable extent; regrettably. Sadly the forests of Sulawesi are now under threat.
serious	Of great consequence. Are you serious or joking.
severe	Severely simple. A severe test of stamina.
solemn	Dignified and somber in manner or character and committed to keeping promises. The judge was solemn as he pronounced sentence.
sorrowful	Feeling or showing grief. Sorrowful widows.
terrible	Exceptionally bad or displeasing. Despite passing my driving test first time I m a terrible driver.
tragedy	The dramatic genre represented by tragedies. A tragedy that killed 95 people.
tragic	Very bad or inadequate. At school she s not a complete tragic but she s not exactly popular either.
unpleasant	Causing discomfort, unhappiness, or revulsion; disagreeable. When drunk he could become very unpleasant.
weighty	Of great seriousness and importance. A weighty argument.