dire

See also diré

English

Etymology

From Latin dirus (“fearful, ominous”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /daɪə(ɹ)/, X-SAMPA: /daI@(r)/
• Rhymes: -aɪə(r)

Adjective

dire (comparative direr or more dire, superlative direst or most dire)

1. Ill-boding; portentous.

   dire omens

2. Dreadful; dismal; horrible; terrible; lamentable.

   dire consequences

   • 2011 December 10, Arindam Rej, “Norwich 4 - 2 Newcastle”, BBC Sport:

     A second Norwich goal in four minutes arrived after some dire Newcastle defending. Gosling gave the ball away with a sloppy back-pass, allowing Crofts to curl in a cross that the unmarked Morison powered in with a firm, 12-yard header.

3. Urgent, pressing.

   dire need

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

Derived terms

Terms derived from dire

direful direly

direness dire sisters

dire straits dire wolf

Translations

ill-boding

• Bulgarian: зловещ (bg) (zlovéšt)
• Danish: ildevarslende (da)
• Dutch: onheilspellend (nl), omineus (nl)
• Finnish: hirveä (fi), kamala (fi), kauhea (fi), pahaenteinen (fi), pahaenteinen (fi)

• Norwegian: skummel (no), illevarslende (no)
• Portuguese: adoentado (pt)
• Russian: зловещий (ru) (zlovéščij)
• Spanish: de mal agüero (es), portentoso (es)

evil in great degree

• Bulgarian: страшен (bg) (strášen), ужасен (bg) (užásen)
• Danish: ondskabsfuld (da), skrækkelig (da)
• Dutch: gevaarlijk (nl), vreselijk (nl), sinister (nl), verschrikkelijk (nl)
• Finnish: hirveä (fi), kamala (fi), kauhea (fi)
• French: funeste (fr), extrême (fr), sinistre (fr)
• German: boshaft. (de)
• Italian: terribile (it)

• Lithuanian: baisus (lt)
• Norwegian: skrekkelig (no), ondskapsfull (no)
• Polish: poważny (pl), straszny (pl) m
• Portuguese: horrível (pt), terrível (pt)
• Russian: жуткий (ru) (žútkij), ужасный (ru) (užásnyj), страшный (ru) (strášnyj)
• Spanish: Maligno (es) m

See also

• voir dire

Anagrams

• ired
• Reid
• ride

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French

Etymology

From Latin dīcere, present active infinitive of dīcō.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: /diʁ/, X-SAMPA: /diR/
• Rhymes: -iʁ

Verb

dire

1. to say, to tell

Conjugation

   Conjugation of dire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		dire			avoir dit
gerund		en disant			en ayant dit
present participle		disant
past participle		dit
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
simple tenses	present	dis	dis	dit	disons	dites	disent
	imperfect	disais	disais	disait	disions	disiez	disaient
	past historic1	dis	dis	dit	dîmes	dîtes	dirent
	future	dirai	diras	dira	dirons	direz	diront
	conditional	dirais	dirais	dirait	dirions	diriez	diraient
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior1	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il	que nous	que vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	dise	dises	dise	disions	disiez	disent
	imperfect1	disse	disses	dît	dissions	dissiez	dissent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	dis	—	disons	dites	—
1literary tenses

Derived terms

• maudire
• médire
• vouloir dire
• dis donc

Noun

dire m (plural dires)

1. saying (that which is said)
2. belief, opinion

Anagrams

• ride, ridé

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Italian

Etymology

From Latin dīcere, present active infinitive of dīcō.

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ˈd̪iː.re], X-SAMPA: /"di.re/

Verb

dire (transitive) or (intransitive)

1. To say, to tell
2. To recite
3. To mean
4. To think
5. To admit

Related terms

• a detta di
• a dir poco
• benedire
• detto
• dicesi
• dirsi
• dizione
• modo di dire
• ridire
• vale a dire
• voler dire

Conjugation

    Conjugation of dire

infinitive	dire
auxiliary verb		avere or essere	gerund		dicendo
present participle		dicente	past participle		detto
person	singular			plural
	first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative	io	tu	lui/lei	noi	voi	essi/esse
present	dico	dici	dice	diciamo	dite	dicono
imperfect	dicevo	dicevi	diceva	dicevamo	dicevate	dicevano
past historic	dissi	dicesti	disse	dicemmo	diceste	dissero
future	dirò	dirai	dirà	diremo	direte	diranno
conditional	io	tu	lui/lei	noi	voi	essi/esse
present	direi	diresti	direbbe	diremmo	direste	direbbero
subjunctive	che io	che tu	che lui/che lei	che noi	che voi	che essi/che esse
present	dica	dica	dica	diciamo	diciate	dicano
imperfect	dicessi	dicessi	dicesse	dicessimo	diceste	dicessero
imperative	-	tu	lui/lei	noi	voi	essi/esse
		di'	dici	diciamo	dite	dicano

Anagrams

• ride

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Latin

Adjective

dīre

1. vocative masculine singular of dīrus

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Middle French

Etymology

From Latin dīcere, present active infinitive of dīcō.

Verb

dire

1. to say (express using language)

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Occitan

Alternative forms

• díser
• díder

Etymology

From Latin dīcere, present active infinitive of dīcō.

Verb

dire

1. to say (express using language)
2. to mean; to signify

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Old French

Etymology

From Latin dīcere, present active infinitive of dīcō.

Verb

dire

1. (chiefly intransitive) to say
2. (transitive) to recount (a story)

Descendants

• French: dire
• Jèrriais: dithe

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Old Provençal

Alternative forms

• dir

Etymology

From Latin dīcere, present active infinitive of dīcō.

Verb

dire

1. to say

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Walloon

Etymology

From Old French dire, from Latin dīcō, dīcere.

Verb

dire

1. to say