Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
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
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
30 May 2025
FOREHAND
(noun) (sports) a return made with the palm of the hand facing the direction of the stroke (as in tennis or badminton or squash)
Coffee Trivia
