DIRE • DICTIONARY ONE.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

... the dread of democratic violence prevailed over the suspicions endeavored to be awakened of monarchism and an arbitrary executive. This feeling was, no doubt, strengthened greatly by refugees from St. Domingo, who related the dire effects which democratic acts had produced in that island. France, however, was never more formidable. Tidings of her victories poured in, whilst those of England told of bank payments suspended, a mutiny in the fleet, and the abandonment of ...

— Life And Times Of Washington, Volume 2 • John Frederick Schroeder and Benson John Lossing

... resolution was to live in open communion with my kind. So intense, indeed, did my anxiety to execute this purpose become that it might have led even to frenzy had not a fortunate circumstance interposed to save me from so dire a calamity. ...

— The Monikins • J. Fenimore Cooper

... victim of the chaparral. The possibility was remote; death at this moment seemed as far off as ever—if anything it was too far off. No, she would find the water-hole somehow; or the unexpected would happen, as it always did when one was in dire straits. She was too young and too strong to die yet. Death was not ...

— Heart of the Sunset • Rex Beach

... she added, as a continuation of the same cry, and sobbing pitifully: and the rarity with her of such abandonment only made the condition more dire. ...

— Far from the Madding Crowd • Thomas Hardy

... thither; lay our faggots on the ground, In neat stacks beleaguering the insurgents all around; And the vile conspiratresses, plotters of such mischief dire, Pile and burn them all together in one vast and righteous pyre: Fling with our own hands Lycon's wife to fry in the thickest fire. By Demeter, they'll get no brag while I've a vein to beat! Cleomenes ...

— Lysistrata • Aristophanes

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