Main entry: horrendous, horrific, awful, dire, direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, frightening, fearful, fearsome, terrible
Definition: causing fear or dread or terror
Usage: 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
Definition: fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless
Usage: a desperate illness; on all fronts the Allies were in a desperate situation due to lack of materiel- G.C.Marshall; a dire emergency