DIRE
awful, dire, direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible
(adjective) causing fear or dread or terror; “the awful war”; “an awful risk”; “dire news”; “a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked”; “the dread presence of the headmaster”; “polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was”; “a dreadful storm”; “a fearful howling”; “horrendous explosions shook the city”; “a terrible curse”
desperate, dire
(adjective) fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless; “a desperate illness”; “on all fronts the Allies were in a desperate situation due to lack of materiel”- G.C.Marshall; “a dire emergency”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
dire (comparative direr or more dire, superlative direst or most dire)
Warning of bad consequences: ill-boding; portentous.
Requiring action to prevent bad consequences: urgent, pressing.
Expressing bad consequences: dreadful; dismal
Synonyms: horrible, terrible, lamentable
(informal) Bad in quality, awful, terrible.
Anagrams
• Dier, IDer, Reid, dier, drie, ired, ride
Source: Wiktionary
Dire, a. [Compar. Direr; superl. Direst.] Etym: [L. dirus; of
uncertain origin.]
1. Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens.
2. Evil in great degree; dreadful; dismal; horrible; terrible;
lamentable.
Dire was the tossing, deep the groans. Milton.
Gorgons and hydras and chimeras dire. Milton.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition