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dire - 20 thesaurus results
| Main Entry: | dire |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | urgent; crucial |
| Synonyms: | acute, burning, clamant, clamorous, critical, crying, desperate, drastic, exigent, extreme, immoderate, imperative, importunate, instant, pressing, climacteric |
| Antonyms: | trivial, unimportant |
| Main Entry: | dire |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | terrible, ominous |
| Synonyms: | alarming, appalling, awful, black, calamitous, cruel, deplorable, depressing, disastrous, dismal, distressing, dreadful, fearful, fierce, frightful, gloomy, grievous, grim, heartbreaking, horrible, lamentable, portentous, redoubtable, regrettable, ruinous, shocking, terrific, ugly, unfortunate, woeful, afflictive, cataclysmic, catastrophic, horrid, oppressing, scowling |
| Antonyms: | fortunate, good, lucky, nice |
| Main Entry: | appalling |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | horrifying |
| Synonyms: | alarming, astounding, awful, bad, dire, dreadful, fearful, formidable, frightening, frightful, ghastly, grim, gross*, harrowing, heavy*, hideous, horrible, intimidating, mean, shocking, terrible, terrifying, daunting, disheartening, dismaying, grody, horrid, horrific, petrifying, scaring, the end, unnerving |
| Antonyms: | comforting, encouraging, satisfying, reassuring |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | awful |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | very bad; terrible |
| Synonyms: | abominable, alarming, appalling, atrocious, deplorable, depressing, dire, disgusting, distressing, dreadful, fearful, frightful, ghastly, gross*, gruesome, grungy*, harrowing, hideous, horrible, nasty, offensive, raunchy, repulsive, shocking, stinking, synthetic, tough, ugly, unpleasant, unsightly, grody, horrendous, horrific, horrifying |
| Antonyms: | beautiful, good, pleasing, ok |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | baleful |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | menacing |
| Synonyms: | calamitous, deadly, dire, evil, foreboding, harmful, hurtful, injurious, malevolent, malignant, noxious, ominous, pernicious, ruinous, sinister, threatening, venomous, vindictive, woeful |
| Notes: | something is baleful that intends or portends harm or injury; something is baneful that produces harm or injury - thus, a glance may be baleful, an herb or poison baneful |
| Antonyms: | advantageous, auspicious, favorable, good, helping, promising |
| Main Entry: | calamitous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | disastrous; tragic |
| Synonyms: | adverse, deadly, deplorable, devastating, dire, fatal, grievous, harmful, heartbreaking, lamentable, messy, pernicious, regrettable, ruinous, unfavorable, unfortunate, woeful, afflictive, blighting, cataclysmic, catastrophic |
| Antonyms: | blessed, comforting, favorable, fortunate, happy, joyous, wonderful |
| Main Entry: | climactic/climacteric |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | decisive |
| Synonyms: | acute, critical, crucial, desperate, dire, paramount, peak, climactical |
| Antonyms: | indecisive, trivial, undecided, anticlimacteric, anticlimactic, bathetic |
| Main Entry: | crucial |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | critical, important |
| Synonyms: | acute, central, clamorous, compelling, deciding, decisive, desperate, dire, essential, imperative, insistent, momentous, necessary, pivotal, pressing, searching, showdown*, touchy, urgent, vital, climacteric, climatic, hanging by thread, high-priority, on thin ice, touch and go |
| Antonyms: | trivial, uncritical, unimportant, inessential |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | deplorable |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unfortunate, shameful |
| Synonyms: | awful, blameworthy, bummer*, calamitous, dire, dirty, disastrous, disgraceful, dishonorable, disreputable, distressing, dolorous, downer*, dreadful, execrable, faulty, grievous, grim, heartbreaking, heartrending, intolerable, lamentable, lousy, melancholy, miserable, mournful, opprobrious, overwhelming, poor, regrettable, reprehensible, rotten, sad, scandalous, sickening, stinking, terrible, tragic, unbearable, unsatisfactory, woeful, wretched, afflictive, godawful, horrifying, pitiable |
| Antonyms: | cheerful, delightful, excellent, good, happy, shameless |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | disastrous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | detrimental, devastating |
| Synonyms: | adverse, calamitous, destructive, dire, dreadful, fatal, fateful, hapless, harmful, ill-fated, luckless, ruinous, terrible, tragic, unfavorable, unfortunate, unlucky, unpropitious, untoward, cataclysmal, cataclysmic, catastrophic, ill-starred |
| Antonyms: | blessed, fortunate, lucky, miraculous, prosperous, successful, triumphant, winning, wondrous |
| Main Entry: | dolorous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | miserable, anguished |
| Synonyms: | afflicted, calamitous, deplorable, dire, distressing, doleful, grievous, harrowing, lamentable, lugubrious, melancholy, mournful, painful, plaintive, regrettable, rueful, sad, sorrowful, woebegone, woeful, wretched, afflictive, dolent, dolesome, dolorific, heart-rending, ruthful |
| Antonyms: | cheery, happy, hopeful |
| Main Entry: | drastic |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | severe, extreme |
| Synonyms: | desperate, dire, exorbitant, extravagant, forceful, harsh, immoderate, radical, strong |
| Antonyms: | calm, collected, easy, mild |
| Main Entry: | dread |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | horrible, terrifying |
| Synonyms: | alarming, awe-inspiring, awful, creepy*, dire, frightening, frightful, terrible, shuddersome |
| Antonyms: | pleasant, pleasing, welcomed, wonderful |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | dreadful |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | horrible, frightening |
| Synonyms: | abominable, alarming, appalling, atrocious, awful, bad, beastly, creepy*, dire, distressing, fearful, formidable, frightful, frozen, ghastly, grievous, grim, gross*, hideous, icky*, lousy, mean, monstrous, rotten, shameful, shocking, spooky, terrible, terrific, tragic, tremendous, wicked, godawful, grody, horrendous, horrific, shuddersome |
| Antonyms: | pleasant, pleasing, welcomed, wonderful |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | grievous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | severe, painful; serious |
| Synonyms: | agonizing, appalling, atrocious, calamitous, damaging, deplorable, dire, dismal, disquieting, distressing, disturbing, dreadful, egregious, flagrant, glaring, grave, harmful, heavy*, heinous, hurtful, injurious, intolerable, lamentable, monstrous, mournful, offensive, onerous, oppressive, outrageous, pathetic, pitiful, sad, shameful, sharp, shocking, sorrowful, taxing, tough, tragic, troublesome, unbearable, villainous, weighty*, afflicting, heart-rending, upsetting, wounding |
| Antonyms: | good, harmless, pleasant |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | harmful |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | injurious, hurtful |
| Synonyms: | adverse, bad, baleful, baneful, calamitous, consumptive, corrupting, damaging, deleterious, destructive, detrimental, dire, disadvantageous, disastrous, evil, incendiary, inimical, internecine, malicious, malignant, menacing, mischievous, murderous, nocuous, noxious, painful, pernicious, pestiferous, risky, ruinous, sinful, sinister, subversive, toxic, unhealthy, unsafe, unwholesome, virulent, cataclysmic, catastrophic, corroding, crippling, harassing, malefic, pestilential, undermining |
| Main Entry: | heartbreaking |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | disappointing |
| Synonyms: | affecting, agonizing, bitter, calamitous, cheerless, deplorable, dire, distressing, grievous, joyless, lamentable, moving, pitiful, poignant, regrettable, sad, touching, tragic, unfortunate, afflictive, heart-rending |
| Antonyms: | exhilarating, heartwarming, joyous, wonderful |
| Main Entry: | inauspicious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | ominous, unpromising |
| Synonyms: | bad, baleful, baneful, black, dire, discouraging, evil, fateful, foreboding, ill-boding, impending, inopportune, sinister, threatening, unfavorable, unfortunate, unlucky, unpropitious, untimely, untoward, ill-omened, unpromising |
| Antonyms: | auspicious, favorable, fortunate, lucky, promising |
| Main Entry: | insistent |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | demanding |
| Synonyms: | assertive, burning, clamant, clamorous, continuous, crying, dire, dogged, emphatic, exigent, forceful, imperative, imperious, importunate, incessant, obstinate, peremptory, persevering, persistent, pressing, resolute, unrelenting, urgent, perseverant, reiterative, resounding |
| Antonyms: | disinterested, indifferent, lenient, tolerant |
| Main Entry: | instant |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | immediate, urgent |
| Synonyms: | burning*, clamant, contemporary, crying*, current, dire, direct, exigent, extant, fast, imperative, importunate, insistent, instantaneous, present, pressing, prompt, quick, existent, on-the-spot, present-day, split-second |
| Antonyms: | delayed, eventual, late, later |
* = informal/non-formal usage
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2009 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2009 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
