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Webster 1913 Edition


Direful

Dire′ful

,
Adj.
[
Dire
+
-ful
.]
Dire; dreadful; terrible; calamitous; woeful;
as, a
direful
fiend; a
direful
day.
Dire′ful-ly
,
adv.
Dire′ful-ness
,
Noun.

Webster 1828 Edition


Direful

DIREFUL

,
Adj.
[See Dire.] Dire; dreadful; terrible; calamitous; as direful fiend; a direful misfortune.

Definition 2024


direful

direful

English

Adjective

direful (comparative more direful, superlative most direful)

  1. Fearful, terrible.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.11:
      read what destiny / Or other dyrefull hap from heaven or **** / Hath wrought this wicked deed […].
    • 1603-06, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, I.2:
      "As whence the sun gins his reflection, shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break."

Derived terms

Synonyms