direful

English

Etymology

From dire +‎ -ful.

Adjective

direful (comparative more direful, superlative most direful)

Fearful, terrible.
- 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC; 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Field, […], 1594, →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, “Book VI, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
  read what destiny / Or other dyrefull hap from heaven or hell / Hath wrought this wicked deed […].
- c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
  "As whence the sun gins his reflection, shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break."

Synonyms

dire, terrible

Derived terms

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