Direful

adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Fearful, terrible.

    "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; […]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    causing fear or dread or terror wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
apocalypticappallingastoundingawe inspiringawesomeawful

Example

More examples

"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; […]"

Etymology

From dire + -ful.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.