emphasis Dire is used to emphasize how serious or terrible a situation or event is. A government split would have dire consequences for domestic peace He was in dire need of hospital treatment. = awful, desperate
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"
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"