DIREFUL in a Sentence

Learn DIREFUL from example sentences, some of them are from classic books. These examples are selected from a corpus with 300,000 sentences, including classic works and current mainstream media. Some sentences also link to their contexts.

For DIREFUL, below is one of 15 sentences:
With straining eyes, then, they remained on the outer edge of the direful zone, whose centre had now become the old man's head.

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 Meanings and Examples of DIREFUL
Definition Example Sentence Classic Sentence
direful
 a.  dire; dreadful; terrible; calamitous; woeful
Classic Sentence:
1  That direful mishap was at the bottom of his temporary recluseness.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 106. Ahab's Leg.
2  With straining eyes, then, they remained on the outer edge of the direful zone, whose centre had now become the old man's head.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 133. The Chase—First Day.
3  Aye, aye, like many more thou told'st direful truth as touching thyself, O Parsee; but, Ahab, there thy shot fell short.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 135. The Chase.—Third Day.
4  Miserable I am, and must be for a time; for the catastrophe which drove me from a house I had found a paradise was of a strange and direful nature.
Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXIX
5  Here had been grievous mismanagement; but, bad as it was, he gradually grew to feel that it had not been the most direful mistake in his plan of education.
Mansfield Park By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XLVIII
6  Nevertheless, let me sup in spite of sorrow, for an empty stomach is a very importunate thing, and thrusts itself on a man's notice no matter how dire is his distress.
The Odyssey By Homer
Context  Highlight   In BOOK VII
7  This was a dire blow to poor Elizabeth, who had relied with firmness upon Justine's innocence.
Frankenstein By Mary Shelley
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 8
8  Legree, cursing his ill luck, and vowing dire vengeance on the morrow, went to bed.
Uncle Tom's Cabin By Harriet Beecher Stowe
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXIX
Example Sentence:
1  There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.
2  Despite dire threats of violence from extremist groups, the protest passed off peacefully.
3  The minister suggested that the dire prophecies of certain leading environmentalists were somewhat exaggerated.
4  After the war the county's economy was in dire straits.
5  A government split would have dire consequences for domestic peace.
6  "You'll be in dire trouble if you don't watch out."
7  A dire economic forecast; dire threats.