direful

  • (s) causing fear or dread or terror
    • the awful war
    • an awful risk
    • dire news
    • a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked
    • the dread presence of the headmaster
    • polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was
    • a dreadful storm
    • a fearful howling
    • horrendous explosions shook the city
    • a terrible curse
    dread, dreaded, dreadful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, terrible, awful, dire, fearful, horrific,

Synonyms

dread dreaded dreadful fearsome frightening horrendous terrible awful dire fearful horrific

Words of close approximity

direfully