dire

To have married a girl who cared only for his money; that would have been dire enough.

The present, so, was more than any possible future, how dire soever it might be.

We cheered, thinking some dire calamity had befallen the enemy.

In fact, no word except that of dire disaster had come to hand.

But it is a dire necessity, and it is impossible to avoid or to turn it.

Przemysl about this time was reported to be in dire straits.

Yet Garnache's first thought even in that moment of dire peril was for Valerie.

Oh, the agony of my doubts, the terrible agony of my dire misgivings!

They come upon us like some dire disaster in a time of festivity.

Dire results have been predicted at every step of radical progress.