adj. 25B6; adjective
the dire economic situation : TERRIBLE, dreadful, appalling, frightful, awful, atrocious, grim, alarming; grave, serious, disastrous, ruinous, hopeless, irretrievable, wretched, desperate, parlous; formal grievous.
he was in dire need of help : URGENT, desperate, pressing, crying, sore, grave, serious, extreme, acute, drastic.
dire warnings of fuel shortages : OMINOUS, gloomy, grim, dismal, unpropitious, inauspicious, unfavourable, pessimistic.
(informal) the concert was dire. : See awful sense 2.