adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a desperate/dire shortage (= very serious and worrying )
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There is a desperate shortage of fresh water in the disaster area.
a dire/gloomy prediction (= saying that something bad will happen )
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There have been some gloomy predictions about the economy recently.
abject/grinding/dire poverty (= extremely severe )
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He was shocked by the abject poverty that he saw.
disastrous/dire consequences (= very bad and damaging )
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If temperatures continue to rise, it could have disastrous consequences for agriculture.
in dire financial straits
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The firm is now in dire financial straits .
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
as
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Our only solace is that it was just as dire on all the other formats.
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The situation Clinton faces in 1996 is not nearly as dire as that which confronted Carter in 1979.
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The game consisted entirely of cavalry charges end to end. As dire a Leeds win as I have seen.
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But state, local and federal officials in Los Angeles said the situation was not as dire .
more
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We didn't make Abisko, chickening out as the weather worsened and the forecasts began to sound even more dire .
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The other challenge was perhaps more dire .
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Carried up to the Governor's House, in much physical pain, his mental pain proved to be more dire .
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In Florida, the situation is more dire .
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Screen acting doesn't get much more dire than this.
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Things grew more dire for Death Row in the fall.
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And somehow, in a setting that had once been rural, it seemed yet more dire .
so
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But they were not so dire as to scare investors into dumping government bonds.
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He said it could follow an incident so dire that the mind had to block it out, sometimes along with other things.
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There's no situation so dire that people who love each other can't see it through.
■ NOUN
consequence
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As a result, at least some of the Bill's dire consequences were mitigated.
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Both suggest, either by statement or implication, that Buchanan is an extremist and warn of dire consequences to his nomination.
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The conditions may sound wonderful, but they can have dire consequences .
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Most came to realize that leading such an imbalanced life led to dire consequences .
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John Gibson highlights the regressive aspects of recent local government financial reform, and predicts dire consequences for the urban poor.
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He also warned of dire consequences such as hyper-inflation if the country failed to maintain a unified budget and a co-ordinated fiscal policy.
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The sweep into Putumayo promises equally dire consequences .
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Publicly the banks have suggested that there could be dire consequences for the City should the deals be ruled illegal.
forecast
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Good shape despite the dire forecasts still being made by much of the business world?
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The most dire forecasts say rising mercury on Earth could bring about both devastating floods and droughts.
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That was the rift that grabbed headlines late in 1990, as a result of a dire forecast .
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Take the current fascination with dire forecasts , for example.
need
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Feeling in dire need of fresh air, Ellie went outside into the grounds.
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She had helped me in my direst need .
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But many of them are in dire need of repair.
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There is a dire need to encourage juniors into academic obstetrics and gynaecology.
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But the passing over of Neil Back leaves the Lions without a commodity of which they could find themselves in dire need .
poverty
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Grandmothers, on whose distressed faces the direst poverty was written, raised their arms in greeting.
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The overwhelming impression left by the survey is one of dire poverty .
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The youngsters are living in dire poverty in their home country.
prediction
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The crisis has unsettled financial markets and brought dire predictions of revolution or civil war from some politicians.
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He was walking in spite of all those specialists and their dire predictions .
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When a highly qualified professional makes such a dire prediction , one has to sit up and take notice.
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He derived, so far as I could tell, not the slightest satisfaction from seeing his most dire predictions fulfilled.
situation
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This dire situation exists despite a welter of management plans, royalties, taxes, and fees.
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When it comes to day-to-day operations, the increasingly dire situation cries out for hard-nosed decisions and solid business management.
strait
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For those in truly dire straits , bankruptcy is sometimes the only option.
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The result is a society that was in dire straits because its cannibalism turned against itself, involving even small children.
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Everton, to put it bluntly, are in dire straits .
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He had had little idea of the dire straits prevailing at Berwick nor that time had all but run out.
warning
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The dire warnings of world shortages have not come to pass.
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And still, where Fergie's behaviour merely offered dire warnings - Never misbehave.
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Several of these additives contain dire warnings of quite nasty effects, particularly upon certain groups of susceptible persons.
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The dire warning came yesterday from Stansted Airport's marketing director Colin Hobbs.
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Minutes later a reprieve arrived - a dire warning to all teetotallers!
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be in dire straits
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Everton, to put it bluntly, are in dire straits .
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The result is a society that was in dire straits because its cannibalism turned against itself, involving even small children.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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The situation doesn't seem as dire as you described it.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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That too often meant that jobs went abroad to places with very low wages and dire standards of living.
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The conditions may sound wonderful, but they can have dire consequences.
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The overwhelming impression left by the survey is one of dire poverty.
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The threats were dire enough to make the Republicans look reckless when they refused to budge.
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Usually these reports concentrate on prophecies of a forthcoming Armageddon but many also describe a dire contemporary situation.