direness
State of crisis
Direness is the quality of being dire—extreme urgency, severity, or dreadfulness.
The word emphasizes how grave or desperate a situation has become: The direness of the famine became clear when relief workers arrived.
It appears most often in formal or literary contexts.
Decisive dangerous moment
- emergencySerious sudden danger
- criticalExpressing disapproval or importance
- urgentNeeding immediate attention
- alarmUrgent warning signal
triage · rescue · evacuation · lifesaving · desperate · pressing · imperative · exigent
State without hope
- despairTotal absence of hope
- bleaknessQuality of being dreary
- desolationState of complete emptiness
- straitsConnecting water channels
plight · extremity · cornered · rock-bottom · abyss · depths
Exposure to harm
- threatIndication of potential harm
- hazardSource of potential harm
- jeopardyRisk of harm
- riskPossibility of harm
menace · precipice · brink · vulnerability · exposure · precariousness · life-threatening · mortal
Suggesting something bad approaches
- doomUnavoidable grim fate
- dreadIntense anticipatory fear
- grimHarsh and foreboding
- bleakDreary and without cheer
portentous · sinister · apprehension · premonition · dark · fateful · ill-omened · apocalyptic
crisis
Decisive dangerous moment
- emergencySerious sudden danger
- criticalExpressing disapproval or importance
- urgentNeeding immediate attention
alarm · triage · rescue · evacuation · lifesaving · desperate · pressing · imperative · exigent · immediacy
hopelessness
State without hope
- despairTotal absence of hope
- bleaknessQuality of being dreary
- desolationState of complete emptiness
straits · plight · extremity · cornered · rock-bottom · abyss · depths
danger
Exposure to harm
risk · menace · precipice · brink · vulnerability · exposure · precariousness · life-threatening · mortal · deadly
ominous
Suggesting something bad approaches
bleak · portentous · sinister · apprehension · premonition · dark · fateful · ill-omened · apocalyptic · cataclysmic
grave
Serious and worrying
- seriousWeighty and requiring attention
- extremeFurthest from moderate
- acuteIntensely severe or perceptive
drastic · harsh · grievous · profound · critical · alarming · significant · weighty · consequential · momentous
direnesstriviality
Unimportant small matter
insignificance · unimportance · inconsequentiality · pettiness · negligibility
direnesshopefulness
Expectation of positive outcomes
brightness · optimism · cheerfulness · promise · auspiciousness
direnessleisureliness
State of being relaxed
relaxedness · calmness · unhurriedness · ease · tranquility