In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
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
25 November 2024
ONCHOCERCIASIS
(noun) infestation with slender threadlike roundworms (filaria) deposited under the skin by the bite of black fleas; when the eyes are involved it can result in blindness; common in Africa and tropical America
Coffee Trivia
