Direful

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Direful \Dire"ful\, a. [Dire + -ful.]
     Dire; dreadful; terrible; calamitous; woeful; as, a direful
     fiend; a direful day. -- {Dire"ful*ly}, adv. --
     {Dire"ful*ness}, n.
     [1913 Webster]



From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  direful
       adj : 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" [syn: {awful}, {dire}, {dread(a)}, {dreaded}, {dreadful},
              {fearful}, {fearsome}, {frightening}, {horrendous}, {horrific},
              {terrible}]