dire wolf
- noun
- /ˈdaɪər wʊlf/
- Literature
:
lobo gigante
- The dire wolf in the story was said to roam the enchanted forest, terrifying anyone who dared to enter.
Examples
-
Before Casimir could respond, the dire wolf had once again emerged from the brush.
Fiction book (1992) -
The two dire wolves rushed through the dense maze of trees, their broad, powerful feet pounding on the muddy path.
Fiction book (1992) -
Stepping toward the dire wolf, Lukas extended the stained finger in front of the beast's nose.
Fiction book (1992) -
" The bard's lips had hardly closed when a massive dire wolf stepped soundlessly from the undergrowth.
Fiction book (1992) -
He threw a glance at Casimir and gestured casually toward the dire wolf.
Fiction book (1992) -
In the fantasy novel, the hero encountered a dire wolf that towered over him with glowing eyes.
-
Legends tell of a dire wolf that could outsmart even the cleverest of hunters in the mountains.
Synonyms
493
1.0
A large wild dog that usually hunts in packs
464
1.0
A large wild animal that is often strong and dangerous
1
9.9
A large animal like a wolf in fantasy stories
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward adjective + noun composition: 'dire' (very serious/dreadful) modifies 'wolf' (the animal), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer a very dangerous or fearsome wolf, as used in fantasy. This compositional pattern is common cross‑linguistically and requires no idiomatic knowledge, making the meaning predictable from the parts.
Etymology
In stories, a dire wolf is a very large or supernatural wolf because writers used the real Ice Age animal's name to imagine an even bigger, scarier creature. The words dire and wolf give the image of a dreadful giant wolf, so the phrase means a 'magical' or 'huge' wolf in tales.