different between dire vs ghastly

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin d?rus (“fearful, ominous”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?da???(?)/
• Rhymes: -a??(?)

Adjective

dire (comparative direr or more dire, superlative direst or most dire)

1. Warning of bad consequences: ill-boding; portentous.

2. Requiring action to prevent bad consequences: urgent, pressing.
3. Expressing bad consequences: dreadful; dismal

   Synonyms: horrible, terrible, lamentable

4. (informal) Bad in quality, awful, terrible.

   His dire mistake allowed her to checkmate him with her next move.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:dire.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• voir dire

Anagrams

• Dier, IDer, Reid, dier, drie, ired, ride

French

Etymology

From Middle French dire, from Old French dire, from Latin d?c?, from Proto-Italic *deik?, from Proto-Indo-European *déy?ti (“to show, point out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di?/
• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /d?zi?/
• Rhymes: -i?

Verb

dire

1. to say, to tell
2. (informal) (transitive with à) to be of interest to someone, to interest someone

3. (informal) (transitive with à) to sound familiar

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

• diction
• indicible

Noun

dire m (plural dires)

1. saying (that which is said)
2. belief, opinion

Derived terms

• aux dires de

Further reading

• “dire” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• ride, ridé

Italian

Alternative forms

• dicere (archaic)

Etymology

From a contraction of Latin d?cere, present active infinitive of d?c?, from Proto-Italic *deik?, from Proto-Indo-European *déy?ti (“to show, point out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?di.re/
• Hyphenation: dì?re

Verb

dìre (first-person singular present dìco, first-person singular past historic dìssi, past participle détto, first-person singular imperfect dicévo, second-person singular imperative di' or (with written accent) dì, auxiliary avere) (transitive)

1. to say, tell
2. to recite
3. to mean
4. to think
5. to admit

Conjugation

Related terms

Anagrams

• ride

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?di?.re/, [?d?i???]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?di.re/, [?d?i???]

Adjective

d?re

1. vocative masculine singular of d?rus

References

• dire in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French dire, from a contraction of Latin d?cere, present active infinitive of d?c?.

Verb

dire

1. to say (express using language)

Descendants

• French: dire

Occitan

Alternative forms

• díder, díser

Etymology

From Old Occitan dir, dire, from a contraction of Latin d?cere, present active infinitive of d?c?.

Verb

dire

1. to say (express using language)
2. to mean; to signify

Conjugation

Old French

Etymology

From a contraction of Latin d?cere, present active infinitive of d?c?.

Verb

dire

1. (chiefly intransitive) to say
2. (transitive) to recount (a story)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Descendants

• Middle French: dire
  • French: dire
• Norman: dithe
• Walloon: dire

References

• “Appendix E: Irregular Verbs” in E. Einhorn (1974), Old French: A Concise Handbook, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ?ISBN, page 153

Old Occitan

Alternative forms

• dir

Etymology

From a contraction of Latin d?cere, present active infinitive of d?c?.

Verb

dire

1. to say

Descendants

• Occitan: dire

Walloon

Etymology

From Old French dire, from a contraction of Latin d?c?, d?cere.

Verb

dire

1. to say

English

Etymology

From a conflation of a derivation of Old English g?stan (“to torment, frighten”) with the suffix -lic, and ghostly (which was also spelt "gastlich" in Middle English). Equivalent to ghast/gast + -ly. Spelling with 'gh' developed 16th century due to the conflation.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /????s(t).li/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??æs(t).li/

Adjective

ghastly (comparative ghastlier, superlative ghastliest)

1. Like a ghost in appearance; death-like; pale; pallid; dismal.
   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

     Each turned his face with a ghastly pang.
2. Horrifyingly shocking.
3. Extremely bad.

Synonyms

• (sickly pale): See also Thesaurus:pallid
• (horrifyingly shocking): lurid

Translations

Adverb

ghastly (not comparable)

1. In a ghastly manner.
   • 1921, William Dudley Pelley, The Fog: A Novel, page 196:

     Johnathan's lips moved ghastly before his voice would come. "So I'm crazy, am I? And if I choose to murder you, what would you do?"