dire
Example Sentences
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“The market reaction isn’t telling as dire a story as the market commentators are,” said Donald Kohn, a former Fed vice chairman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
But the roughly 2,500 who remain include hundreds of unaccompanied minors who are enduring dire conditions with limited access to food, water, shelter and sanitation.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
The tents are a stark indication of the dire financial state of the hospital, whose leaders say it could be forced to close if it doesn’t find a way to consistently bring in more money.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
This dire situation is projected to get only moderately better over the next year.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026
“I know the situation’s dire, but y’all sure you wanna go up in there now? Maybe we gather our strength, head in tomorrow?”
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
Rademacher said the showers will continue into at least Monday, with the midweek looking a bit direr.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 2, 2024
The script freights these qualities with guilt, which Cormier ably juggles in direr moments.
From Salon ● Feb. 22, 2024
The TV series balances humor and tragedy like the film did; however, it’s clear in the episodes that things are direr now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2023
With Christmas now just months away, supermarkets are warning that the situation could become direr.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 1, 2021
The plunge into the state-room at bedtime, and the crawl into the narrow berth, are not without their direr features, which the sea-smells and confined air aggravate.
From From the Oak to the Olive A Plain record of a Pleasant Journey by Howe, Julia Ward
A recent drought saw the three direst years on record, which dropped reservoirs around the state to dangerously low levels and prompted mandatory rationing and even caused some hydroelectric power plants to shut down.
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2024
This is an ancient and nearly universal idiom that resurfaces, in different forms, in different places, and at different times, in the direst of circumstances.
From Salon ● May 4, 2024
Equally miraculous is a nonfiction movie forged in the direst of challenges that never comes across like an issue-driven medical narrative.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2023
Wales received 56.7% of its expected rainfall between March and August, the third direst six-month period since records began in 1865.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2022
Unsure of its power or abilities, we dared not use it for anything but the direst of circumstances.
From "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" by Grace Lin
Vocabulary lists containing dire
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 2
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"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act I
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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