Subscriber login
Password
Forgot your password?
Library card login
Login with Shibboleth® »
Login with Athens »
Close menu
Oxford Dictionaries Online
The world's most trusted dictionaries
About
Subscriber services
What's new
Contact us
Help
Subscribe now
Already a subscriber or in a subscribing organization?
Login
Dictionary
Other language resources
US English
World English
Dictionary
Better writing
World of words
Puzzles and games
For children and schools
For learners of English
Email
Cite
direful
(dire|ful)
Pronunciation:
/ˈdʌɪəfʊl, -f(ə)l/
adjective
archaic
or
literary
extremely bad; dreadful.
Derivatives
direfully
adverb
Origin:
late 16th century
: from
dire
+
-ful
Nearby Words
director general
Director of Public Prosecutions
director's chair
director's cut
directorate
directory
directory enquiries
directress
directrix
direful
dirge
dirham
dirigible
dirigisme
diriment impediment
dirk
Dirksen, Everett M.
dirndl
dirt