Search Result for "direful": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (1)

1. causing fear or dread or terror;
- Example: "the awful war"
- Example: "an awful risk"
- Example: "dire news"
- Example: "a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked"
- Example: "the dread presence of the headmaster"
- Example: "polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"
- Example: "a dreadful storm"
- Example: "a fearful howling"
- Example: "horrendous explosions shook the city"
- Example: "a terrible curse"
[syn: awful, dire, direful, dread(a), dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Direful \Dire"ful\, a. [Dire + -ful.] Dire; dreadful; terrible; calamitous; woeful; as, a direful fiend; a direful day. -- Dire"ful*ly, adv. -- Dire"ful*ness, n. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

direful adj 1: causing fear or dread or terror; "the awful war"; "an awful risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked"; "the dread presence of the headmaster"; "polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"; "a dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling"; "horrendous explosions shook the city"; "a terrible curse" [syn: awful, dire, direful, dread(a), dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible]