What's the difference between dire and dreadful?

Dire


Definition:

  • (superl.) Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens.
  • (superl.) Evil in great degree; dreadful; dismal; horrible; terrible; lamentable.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Why is it so surprising to people that a boy like Chol, just out of conflict, has thought through the needs of his country in such a detailed way?” While Beah’s zeal is laudable, the situation in South Sudan is dire .
  • (2) It is that beautiful moment when the original Metamorphosis is destroyed so that it can be refashioned for a global community of readers in dire need of new forms of storytelling.
  • (3) In this investigation, reanalysis of responses to case vignettes obtained from 436 psychologists, psychiatrists, and internists revealed that on the issue of confidentiality management, these health care providers discriminate among cases involving: Premeditated harm to others, socially irresponsible acts with possible dire consequences to self or others, and minor theft.
  • (4) The report’s concluding chapters raised dire warning that the operations of contemporary child protection agencies were replicating many of the destructive dynamics of the Stolen Generations era.
  • (5) Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, warned Barack Obama in public remarks this month that history had shown “sacrificing our right to privacy can have dire consequences”.
  • (6) Algeria had not scored a World Cup goal since they drew 1-1 with Northern Ireland at Mexico 1986, a run that took in five matches, including that dire 0-0 draw with England in Cape Town four years ago.
  • (7) Professor Lord Stern of the London School of Economics, the author of the influential Stern Report into the economics of climate change for the Treasury in 2006, warned that if the pattern continued, the results would be dire.
  • (8) High among the range of issues was the media dominance of the Globo group (whose journalists were chased away from demonstrations by an irate mob), inefficient use of public funds, forced relocations linked to Olympic real estate developments, the treatment of indigenous groups, dire inequality and excessive use of force by police in favela communities.
  • (9) Burrows had resigned as governor of Bank of Ireland, leaving the lender in dire straits, with big losses and mounting debt threatening its very survival.
  • (10) Yet the inability to get on in life is a now a major and growing problem for middle-class children and this group is in dire need of attention, it is expected to report.
  • (11) Vince Cable, their shadow chancellor, said: "The Liberal Democrats welcome the government's recognition that radical action is now needed, reflecting the dire and deteriorating position of the UK economy.
  • (12) Its willingness to ignore diplomatic convention and use its Kuala Lumpur embassy to conduct an extraterritorial assassination will be seen as setting a dire precedent that cannot be allowed to stand.
  • (13) What is clear, however, is that the reported escalation in fighting exacerbates the already dire humanitarian and human rights situation and the suffering of the Yemeni people,” said Ban’s spokesman, Farhan Haq.
  • (14) In a scene of young soldiers at rest for a few minutes at the front, he takes us into their heads: one full of dire forebodings, another singing, one trying to identify a bird on a tree – soldiers dreaming of girls’ breasts, dogs, sausages and poetry.
  • (15) Despite its own dire predictions on the potential impact of climate change , the government's impact assessment for Flood Re does not take account of " changing flood risk due to deterioration of existing flood defences [or] climate change".
  • (16) The situation is so dire the National Audit Office has warned that by 2020 schools will be worse funded than at any time since the mid-90s.
  • (17) John Macgregor, an aid worker who has been accompanying teams delivering food and water to Battambang, described the area as a vast inland sea where conditions are dire and malnutrition is common.
  • (18) But they are also the stuff of nightmares, because if an electricity grid is overwhelmed by demand, the consequences can be dire, as India discovered recently , when more than 700 million people were left without power.
  • (19) Thousands of jobs that would have been created will be lost and the knock-on effect will be so dire.
  • (20) While big businesses have enjoyed access to new couriers, Royal Mail itself eventually reached such a dire state that the Hooper report urged the government to rewrite the law to clarify that competition was a mixed blessing.

Dreadful


Definition:

  • (a.) Full of dread or terror; fearful.
  • (a.) Inspiring dread; impressing great fear; fearful; terrible; as, a dreadful storm.
  • (a.) Inspiring awe or reverence; awful.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Thinking I had the dreaded Norovirus, I rushed home.
  • (2) We should be grateful the School Food Trust has established this now, before we end up falling down a slippery slope back towards the dreaded Turkey Twizzler that Jamie Oliver campaigned to banish," he added.
  • (3) So what should those who have long dreaded this moment do now?
  • (4) Dr Bhambra sustained the most dreadful life-changing injuries during a sustained racist attack on an innocent man, a member of a caring profession.” There was applause from the public gallery as the verdict was returned.
  • (5) Despite a dreadful end to last season, culminating in a 6-1 defeat at Stoke City, FSG are pressing ahead with transfer plans agreed with Rodgers, indicating the manager’s position is safe at the moment.
  • (6) The image of older people, epitomised in the dreadful road sign, is about health and disability, but poverty is an equally defining feature, so we could talk about older people dependent on social security and those who have other sources of income.
  • (7) Panic attacks would overwhelm her periodically and she experienced regular “ scanxiety ” – the feelings of dread that grip patients before new tests.
  • (8) If you are a London commuter dreading tube strike chaos this evening and tomorrow there is an alternative to fighting your way on to overcrowded buses or a long walk.
  • (9) Many clinicians have realised that AIDS is only the most dreadful aspect of HIV infection.
  • (10) I have to say I think Iran are the poorest team I've seen so far – Nigeria were dreadful in that game but you got the sense that at leas they were a half-decent team playing badly.
  • (11) After expressing frustration with Stoke City's style of play, the dreadful standard of the game and the lack of width available on a pitch narrowed to exploit Rory Delap's throw-ins, Tony Mowbray finally realised that a sixth defeat in seven matches might also owe something to West Bromwich Albion's shortcomings.
  • (12) Thus China replaced a state bureaucracy with a similar state bureaucracy under a different name, the USSR replaced the dreaded imperial secret police with an even more dreaded secret police, and so forth.
  • (13) It's unfair to single him out on the basis of a performance in which almost all of his team-mates have been dreadful, but he's been consistently awful throughout this tournament and keeps getting picked.
  • (14) They'll dread the same thing happening again, possibly during an election campaign.
  • (15) Despite his humorous dismissal of the danger, those close to him dreaded the trips, with the archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, admitting: "My heart is in my mouth every time he goes to Nigeria."
  • (16) So Richard arose as himself again, a dreadful apparition cavorting.
  • (17) Try Penny Dreadful Read more Conleth Hill, who plays Machiavellian royal fixer Varys, kept the crowd in stitches.
  • (18) Even after yesterday's dreadful GDP figures , a year on from the financial firestorm, it has become apparent that we are not about to suffer a full rerun of America's Great Depression.
  • (19) CSKA Moscow survive PSV Eindhoven fightback after Seydou Doumbia double Read more Van Gaal, clearly unenthused by the team’s display, cannot have missed another limited performance from Wayne Rooney, most notable for a fairly dreadful shot when Anthony Martial’s quick feet and directness gave him a chance after 20 minutes.
  • (20) Soubry compared nicotine to heroin as she spoke of how she found it difficult to give up smoking because nicotine is a "dreadful substance" that creates a "perverse psychology of smoking".

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