direful

English

Etymology

From dire +‎ -ful.

Adjective

direful (comparative more direful, superlative most direful)

1. Fearful, terrible.
   • 1594, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, [verse 17], lines [97–100]:

     I haue beene wooed, as I intreat thee now, / Euen by the ſterne, and direfull God of warre, / VVhoſe ſinowie necke in battel nere did bow, / VVho conquers where he comes in euery iarre; […]

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.11:

     read what destiny / Or other dyrefull hap from heaven or hell / 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."

Synonyms

• dire

Derived terms

• direfully
• direfulness