dire
adj 1: 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" [syn: {desperate}]
2: 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}, {direful}, {dread(a)}, {dreaded}, {dreadful},
{fearful}, {fearsome}, {frightening}, {horrendous}, {horrific},
{terrible}]