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Dire Straits and Furies
Dire and fury share a history in Roman mythology, as each of these words is connected to the Erinyes, the avenging and terrifying deities of ancient myth who tormented criminals. The Romans referred to these goddesses as either the Dirae or the Furiae. The former is from the Latin word dirus, from which dire is descended, and the latter comes from furere, from where we get fury. The word dire is often found in conjunction with straits; in dire straits is used of a situation that is very bad or difficult. Our records indicate that this phrase began to be used in English at the end of the 18th century, when it appeared in Francis Fawkes’s The Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius: “When now the heroes through the vast profound, Reach the dire straits with rocks encompass’d round.”
Examples of dire in a Sentence
Christopher Ketcham, Harper's, June 2008
Whether one is a lowly farmer or an urban worker, a student, professional, or a member of the elite, a meal is not complete unless rice is served to accompany the main viand of pork, fish, chicken, beef, vegetables or in the most dire circumstances, dry fish or salt.
—Georgina R. Encanto, Food, April 2000
All wild tigers are threatened with extinction, but Sumatran tigers are in especially dire straits because the world's zoos have only 235 of them in captive-breeding programs.
—Audubon, November-December 1998
The circumstances are now more dire than ever.
Some analysts are issuing dire economic forecasts.
They live in dire poverty.
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
30 June 2026
The Kremlin’s fiscal picture has grown increasingly dire too, as its target budget deficit for the year was quickly surpassed within the first quarter.
—
Tristan Bove,
Fortune,
30 June 2026
Even before the earthquakes, conditions in Venezuela were also dire, with two-thirds of its residents living in poverty and housing often unattainable — something that’s likely to worsen after thousands of homes and apartment buildings were destroyed in the quake.
—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
28 June 2026
But while tech giants like Apple and Microsoft, which both announced price hikes this week, have a hefty cash cushion, supply chain leverage and customers numbering in the millions or billions, a much wider swath of businesses face potentially dire straits.
—
Kif Leswing,
CNBC,
27 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for dire
Cite this Entry
“Dire.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dire. Accessed 3 Jul. 2026.
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dire
adjective
