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Dire Straits and Furies
Dire and fury share a history in Roman mythology, as each of these words is connected to the Erinyes, the avenging and terrifying deities of ancient myth who tormented criminals. The Romans referred to these goddesses as either the Dirae or the Furiae. The former is from the Latin word dirus, from which dire is descended, and the latter comes from furere, from where we get fury. The word dire is often found in conjunction with straits; in dire straits is used of a situation that is very bad or difficult. Our records indicate that this phrase began to be used in English at the end of the 18th century, when it appeared in Francis Fawkes’s The Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius: “When now the heroes through the vast profound, Reach the dire straits with rocks encompass’d round.”
Synonyms
Examples of dire in a Sentence
Christopher Ketcham, Harper's, June 2008
Whether one is a lowly farmer or an urban worker, a student, professional, or a member of the elite, a meal is not complete unless rice is served to accompany the main viand of pork, fish, chicken, beef, vegetables or in the most dire circumstances, dry fish or salt.
—Georgina R. Encanto, Food, April 2000
All wild tigers are threatened with extinction, but Sumatran tigers are in especially dire straits because the world's zoos have only 235 of them in captive-breeding programs.
—Audubon, November-December 1998
The circumstances are now more dire than ever.
Some analysts are issuing dire economic forecasts.
They live in dire poverty.
David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times, 20 Apr. 2024
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This will have dire consequences for future wars.
—Roberto J. González, The Mercury News, 19 Apr. 2024
Built on the site of an old trailer park, near 10th Street and Metropolitan Avenue, Eden Village is slated to provide shelter as well as access to social services for Kansas City area residents in the most dire living situations.
—Bill Lukitsch, Kansas City Star, 19 Apr. 2024
The root of the protest: the plight of those in Gaza
Tamayo said the group's protests primarily seek to highlight the dire situation faced by those in Gaza.
—Journal Sentinel, 19 Apr. 2024
But our cultural misunderstanding of eating disorders, even by well-meaning practitioners, could exacerbate the illnesses for those who suffer from them—and have dire consequences.
—Cole Kazdin, TIME, 16 Apr. 2024
Before the pandemic, the company was in dire financial straits — in part because Berman had spent hundreds of thousands in company funds to help subsidize his relationship with a webcam model, court papers say.
—Meghana Keshavan, STAT, 15 Apr. 2024
The dire straits confronting the nonprofit theater sector also contribute to the interest in commercial Off Broadway.
—Michael Paulson, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2024
Thailand has been worst hit, Herrera said, adding that heat forecasts there have been especially dire.
—Heather Chen, CNN, 10 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dire.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near dire
Cite this Entry
“Dire.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dire. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.
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dire
adjective
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