dire

Word family

dire /daɪə $ daɪr/ adjectiveadj

1 BADPROBLEMextremely serious or terrible 极其严重的，极可怕的

warnings of dire consequences that often don’t come true

对严重后果的警告，尽管这些后果常常不会出现

The country is in dire need of food aid.

这个国家急需食品援助。

The situation looked dire.

情况看来非常严重。

2 be in dire straits to be in an extremely difficult or serious situation 处于岌岌可危的境地

Everyone agrees the sport is in dire straits.

人人都认为这个体育项目已处于岌岌可危的境地。

Examples from the Corpus

be in dire straits• Peggy realized what dire financial straits she was in when her husband died.• The company is in dire financial straits.• Everton, to put it bluntly, are in dire straits.• The result is a society that was in dire straits because its cannibalism turned against itself, involving even small children.• The team is in such dire straits they've even considered selling their three best players.

3 dire warning/prediction/forecast WARNa warning about something terrible that will happen in the future 可怕的警告/预测/预言

Last night there were dire warnings of civil war.

昨晚传来关于内战的可怕警告。

Examples from the Corpus

dire warning/prediction/forecast• He was walking in spite of all those specialists and their dire predictions.• That was the rift that grabbed headlines late in 1990, as a result of a dire forecast.• Take the current fascination with dire forecasts, for example.• The crisis has unsettled financial markets and brought dire predictions of revolution or civil war from some politicians.• The dire warnings of world shortages have not come to pass.• When a highly qualified professional makes such a dire prediction, one has to sit up and take notice.• The most dire forecasts say rising mercury on Earth could bring about both devastating floods and droughts.

Examples from the Corpus

dire• The situation doesn't seem as dire as you described it.• The conditions may sound wonderful, but they can have dire consequences.• Usually these reports concentrate on prophecies of a forthcoming Armageddon but many also describe a dire contemporary situation.• The threats were dire enough to make the Republicans look reckless when they refused to budge.• The overwhelming impression left by the survey is one of dire poverty.• That too often meant that jobs went abroad to places with very low wages and dire standards of living.

in dire need of• At the time, rebels were in dire need of arms.• Feeling in dire need of fresh air, Ellie went outside into the grounds.• But many of them are in dire need of repair.

Origin dire

(1500-1600) Latin dirus

dire adjectiveadj

Chinese

Corpus