direness
1
8.3
- noun
- /ˈdaɪərnəs/
:
gravedad
- The doctor explained the direness of her condition, urging immediate treatment.
Examples
-
Many of the workers recount how losing their jobs on that day, with scant possibilities of finding work in the height of an acute economic crisis, made a bitter mockery of the direness of their situation.
Academic text (2008) -
What would you have him do, convey the direness of modern times?
Blog text (20) -
And for many Democrats, the failure to fight on the ground for a policy that met the direness of the situation remains a fatal error.
Blog text (7) -
There was no doubting now the direness of the occasion.
Fiction book (1993) -
As head wounds will do, his had bled all out of proportion to its actual direness.
Fiction book (1997) -
I certainly understand that in this case, the direness for this particular citizen may have required that phone to always be charged to stay in touch with loved ones, doctors, police, and the electric company to keep her life in order, so by no means am I belittling her statement.
Blog text (7) -
The direness of the emergency prompted authorities to act quickly to save lives.
-
In the face of climate change, the direness of the crisis has never been clearer.
Synonyms
120
3.3
A situation that needs attention right away because it is very important
112
5.7
A serious danger that can cause harm or loss
49
5.1
The level of how bad or serious something is
41
3.4
How bad or dangerous a situation is
12
2.8
A strong chance that people or property will be harmed
2
6.1
The chance that something will harm people or property
1
8.9
The state of being very dangerous and likely to cause harm
A situation likely to cause harm or injury
A very strong feeling of fear when something is shocking or awful
How strong and harmful something is, like pain or bad weather
Antonyms
How Serious
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word direness comes from the old Latin word dirus, which meant 'dreadful' or 'terrible'. It is the same root as the adjective dire, so direness is the state of being very serious, urgent, or dangerous.