DIREFUL

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”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

direful (comparative more direful, superlative most direful)

Fearful, terrible.

Synonyms

• dire

Source: Wiktionary


Dire"ful, a. Etym: [Dire + -ful.]

Definition: Dire; dreadful; terrible; calamitous; woeful; as, a direful fiend; a direful day.

– Dire"ful*ly, adv.

– Dire"ful*ness, n.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

9 May 2025

RIGHT

(noun) anything in accord with principles of justice; “he feels he is in the right”; “the rightfulness of his claim”


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Coffee Trivia

The first coffee-house in Mecca dates back to the 1510s. The beverage was in Turkey by the 1530s. It appeared in Europe circa 1515-1519 and was introduced to England by 1650. By 1675 the country had more than 3,000 coffee houses, and coffee had replaced beer as a breakfast drink.

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