dire

1 being or showing a sign of evil or calamity to come a dire forecast of a plunge in stock prices Synonyms of dire baleful, ominous, direful, doomy, foreboding, ill, ill-boding, inauspicious, menacing, minatory, portentous, sinister, threateningWords Related to dire black, bleak, cheerless, chill, Cimmerian, cloudy, cold, comfortless, dark, darkening, depressing, depressive, desolate, dim, disconsolate, dismal, drear, dreary, dreich [chiefly Scottish], elegiac (also elegiacal), forlorn, funereal, gloomy, glum, godforsaken, gray (also grey), lonely, lonesome, lugubrious, miserable, morbid, morose, murky, plutonian, saturnine, sepulchral, somber (or sombre), sullen, sunless, tenebrific, tenebrous, wretched; discouraging, disheartening, hopeless, unfavorable, unpromising, unpropitious; ill-fated, ill-starred, star-crossed, troubled, unfortunate, unlucky; evil, malign, malignantNear Antonyms of dire auspicious, benign, bright, encouraging, favorable, golden, heartening, hopeful, promising, propitious, prosperousAntonyms of dire unthreatening

2 causing fear a series of dire tremors that hinted at a huge volcanic eruption Synonyms of dire alarming, fearful, direful, dread, dreadful, fearsome, forbidding, formidable, frightening, frightful, ghastly, hair-raising, horrendous, horrible, horrifying, intimidating, redoubtable, scary, shocking, spine-chilling, terrible, terrifyingWords Related to dire daunting, demoralizing, disconcerting, discouraging, dismaying, disquieting, distressing, disturbing, perturbing, startling, threatening, troubling, trying, unnerving; bone-chilling, creepy, eerie (also eery), weird; appalling, atrocious, awful, grisly, gruesome (also grewsome), hideous, horrid, macabre, monstrous, nightmarishNear Antonyms of dire calming, comforting, consoling, inviting, lulling, pacifying, quieting, reassuring, relaxing, soothing, tranquilizing (also tranquillizing); nonintimidating, nonthreatening

3 needing immediate attention a dire need for food and medicine in the famine-stricken country Synonyms of dire burning, clamant, compelling, critical, crying, acute, emergent, exigent, imperative, imperious, importunate, instant, necessitous, pressing, urgentWords Related to dire demanding, extreme, immediate, insistent, intense, overriding; crucial, desperate, grave, life-and-death (also life-or-death), serious, severe, vital; dangerous, explosive, hazardous, perilous, precarious, unstableNear Antonyms of dire incidental, low-pressure, minor, negligible, trivial, unimportant; nonthreatening, safe, stableAntonyms of dire noncritical, nonurgent

4 causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer with stock prices steadily falling, these are dire days on the trading floor Synonyms of dire black, bleak, cheerless, chill, Cimmerian, cloudy, cold, comfortless, dark, darkening, depressing, depressive, desolate, gloomy, disconsolate, dismal, drear, dreary, dreich [chiefly Scottish], elegiac (also elegiacal), forlorn, funereal, glum, godforsaken, gray (also grey), lonely, lonesome, lugubrious, miserable, morbid, morose, murky, plutonian, saturnine, sepulchral, solemn, somber (or sombre), sullen, sunless, tenebrific, tenebrous, wretchedWords Related to dire blue, dejected, depressed, despondent, disconsolate, down, droopy, hangdog, inconsolable, low, melancholic, melancholy, mirthless, sad, unhappy, woebegone, woeful; dim, discomfiting, discouraging, disheartening, dismaying, dispiriting, distressful, distressing, upsetting; desperate, hopeless, pessimistic; lamentable, mournful, plaintive, sorrowful; colorless, drab, dull; dour, grim, lowering (also louring), lowery (also loury), menacing, negative, oppressive, threateningNear Antonyms of dire blithe, blithesome, buoyant, gay, jocund, jolly, joyful, joyous, merry, mirthful; encouraging, hopeful, optimistic; lighthearted, lightsomeAntonyms of dire bright, cheerful, cheering, cheery, comforting, cordial, festive, friendly, gay, heartwarming, sunshiny