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- Dictionarydireful/ˈdʌɪəfʊl/
adjective
- 1. extremely bad; dreadful. archaic, literary
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adjective. literary uk / ˈdaɪə.f ə l / us / ˈdaɪr.f ə l / Add to word list. very bad or unpleasant: The direful conflict would soon culminate in civil war. She was overcome by a direful terror that her torment would never end. Fewer examples. He was cursing again, for he had stumbled against the sharp leaves of a cactus with direful results.
1. : dreadful. direful war began again Charles Dickens. 2. : ominous. direfully. ˈdī (-ə)r-fə-lē. adverb. Synonyms. baleful. dire. doomy. foreboding. ill-boding. inauspicious. menacing. minatory. ominous. portentous. sinister. threatening. See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus.
Definitions of direful. adjective. causing fear or dread or terror. “a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked”. synonyms: awful, dire, dread, dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible. alarming. frightening because of an awareness of danger.
Direful definition: dreadful; awful; terrible.. See examples of DIREFUL used in a sentence.
Synonyms for DIREFUL: ominous, sinister, menacing, bleak, threatening, dire, portentous, inauspicious; Antonyms of DIREFUL: favorable, promising, benign, bright, golden, prosperous, auspicious, hopeful
1. dreadful; awful; terrible. 2. indicating trouble. direful forecasts. Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019 by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. Derived forms. direfully. adverb. direfulness. noun.
1. Causing or able to cause fear: appalling, dire, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, formidable, frightful, ghastly, redoubtable, scary, terrible, tremendous. 2. Portending future disaster: apocalyptic, apocalyptical, baneful, dire, fateful, fire-and-brimstone, grave, hellfire, ominous, portentous, unlucky. The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus.
adjective. Dreadful; terrible. Webster's New World. Similar definitions. Foreshadowing evil or disaster; ominous. American Heritage. Synonyms: fearsome. fearful. dreadful. dire. terrible. horrific. horrendous. frightening. dreaded. awful. unlucky. portentous. ominous. hellfire. Antonyms: nice. good. Origin of Direful. From dire + -ful.
noun. Word origin. [ 1575–85; dire + -ful] Word Frequency. direful in British English. (ˈdaɪəfʊl ) adjective. literary. dire; awful; very bad. heedless of the direful consequences that might flow from such an act. direful and pestilential diseases.
Definition of direful. English dictionary and integrated thesaurus for learners, writers, teachers, and students with advanced, intermediate, and beginner levels. Log In
