dire
dire / dīr, dīər
adjective disastrous, terrible, dreadful A thousand fearful images and dire suggestions glance along the mind when it is moody and discontented with itself. Walter Scott, 1771 - 1832 urgent, desperate Nothing has more strength than dire necessity. Euripides 480 - 406 B.C. indicative of great trouble or disaster This system must be demystified, politicized, and recognized for the ways in which it has come to pose a dire threat to democracy. Henry Giroux, 1943 - dyer dy-er / dīr, dīər noun one who dyes cloth or other materials as an occupation He was a dyer, who in the course of dipping homespun wool and old women's petticoats had got fired with the ambition to learn a great deal more about the strange secrets of colour. From “Adam Bede” by George Eliot, 1819 - 1880