direful
1
9.9
- adjective
- /ˈdaɪərfəl/
- Archaic
- In the midst of a direful silence, the villagers awaited the return of their lost loved ones.
Examples
-
The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd the very virtue of compassion in thee, I have with such provision in mine art so safely ordered that there is no soul...
-
The direful storm left the town in ruins, with shattered homes and fallen trees everywhere.
-
The cry is very direful!
-
Bet Tucker, and the four of us buried her that direful day.
Fiction book (1990) -
Or, think of fastening upon yourselves and your children an evil so direful in its results!"
Academic text (2009) -
The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd The very virtue of compassion in thee, I have with such provision in mine art So safely ordered that there is no soul-
-
There is a long, direful stillness during which a wolf howls somewhere and stars fall in a scatter, streaking across the domed dark like flicked butts.
Fiction book (2000) -
He was filled with direful thoughts about the future after receiving the bad news.
Synonyms
248
3.0
Causing someone to feel afraid
200
5.5
Causing great fear or shock
143
6.9
Very serious, frightening, and needing action quickly
134
3.7
Very bad and unpleasant, often causing fear or shock
90
6.1
Giving a feeling that something bad will happen
79
7.0
Very shocking and scary, causing fear or disgust
74
6.4
Makes you feel that something bad will happen
58
1.1
Very frightening and causing fear or dread
54
4.2
Causing great fear or worry
41
5.0
Giving the feeling that something dangerous may happen
34
4.8
Very frightening and likely to make people afraid
27
1.0
So frightening that people feel afraid
20
2.9
Causing strong fear and worry
13
6.4
Causing strong fear or worry
4
8.4
Looking or sounding dangerous and making you feel afraid
2
4.2
Very bad or unpleasant in a strong way
Likely to get severe punishment or strong blame
Antonyms
How Serious
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word direful comes from the older word dire, which goes back to Latin dirus meaning 'terrible' or 'fearful'. The -ful part means 'full of', so direful is like 'full of danger or dread', which is why we use it for something very bad or threatening.