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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.”
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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.
Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2024
Recent photographs indicate that the Royal Lodge is in dire need of repairs as the prince struggles to maintain its costly upkeep.
—Stephanie Nolasco, Fox News, 19 Nov. 2024
Samuel also looks slow coming out of his breaks, a dire sign for a receiver who was never good at beating press coverage, even in the salad days.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 19 Nov. 2024
Unfortunately, things go from dire to actually tragic when Chloe, who’d been recovering from surgery, suddenly spikes her potassium levels and starts coding.
—Laura Bradley, Vulture, 15 Nov. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near dire
Cite this Entry
“Dire.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dire. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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dire
adjective
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