Dire; dreadful; terrible; calamitous; woeful; as, a direful fiend; a direful day.
source: Webster 1913
adjective satellite
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.
