dire

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dīrus (“fearful, ominous”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdaɪ̯ə(ɹ)/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

Adjective

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

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

   dire omens

2. Requiring action to prevent bad consequences: urgent, pressing.

   dire need (of)

   • 2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891:

     One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. […] But out of sight is out of mind. And that, together with the inherent yuckiness of the subject, means that many old sewers have been neglected and are in dire need of repair.

3. Expressing bad consequences: dreadful; dismal.

   Synonyms: horrible, terrible, lamentable

   dire consequences;  to be in dire straits

   • 2019 August 30, Jonathan Watts, “Amazon fires show world heading for point of no return, says UN”, in The Guardian‎:

     Cristiana Paşca Palmer, the executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said the destruction of the world’s biggest rainforest was a grim reminder that a fresh approach needed to stabilise the climate and prevent ecosystems from declining to a point of no return, with dire consequences for humanity.

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

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

   • 2011 December 10, Arindam Rej, “Norwich 4-2 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport:

     A second Norwich goal in four minutes arrived after some dire Newcastle defending. Gosling gave the ball away with a sloppy back-pass, allowing Crofts to curl in a cross that the unmarked Morison powered in with a firm, 12-yard header.

Quotations

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

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• voir dire

Anagrams

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

Catalan

Alternative forms

• diure (Alghero)

Pronunciation

• (Algherese) IPA^(key): /ˈdiɾa/

Verb

dire

1. (Northern, Alghero) Alternative form of dir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French dire, from Old French dire, from Latin dīcō, from Proto-Italic *deikō, from Proto-Indo-European *déyḱti (“to show, point out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diʁ/

• audio

  (file)

• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /d͡ziʁ/
• Rhymes: -iʁ

Verb

dire

1. to say, to tell
2. (informal) to be of interest to, to interest

   Ça te dit de regarder un film de science-fiction? ― Do you want to watch a science fiction movie? What do you say to watching a science fiction movie?

   Ça vous dit ? ― Are you interested ? Are you up ?

   Il m’a demandé si ça nous dirait de nous joindre à eux plus tard. ― He asked me if we'd like to join them later.

   Ça ne me dit trop rien d’y aller. ― I don't really want to go .

3. (informal) to sound familiar

   Ça me dit quelque chose. ― It rings a bell.

   Ça ne me dit rien. ― It doesn't ring a bell.

Conjugation

Disez is a nonstandard form for the second person plural in the present indicative.

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

Descendants

• Louisiana Creole: di

Further reading

• “dire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Anagrams

• ride, ridé

Italian

Alternative forms

• dicere (archaic)

Etymology

From a contraction of Latin dīcere, from Proto-Italic *deikō, from Proto-Indo-European *déyḱti (“to show, point out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdi.re/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ire
• 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 dì' or (with syntactic gemination after the verb, with written accent) dì, auxiliary avére) (transitive)

1. to utter (produce (speech or other sounds) with one's voice)
2. to recite
3. to say, tell, utter
   1. (transitive with di) to talk about, discuss
      • mid 13^th century, Gherardo Patecchio, Splanamento de li proverbi di Salomone [Explanation of Solomon's proverbs], line 21; collected in Roberto Tagliani, editor, compiled by Maria Luisa Meneghetti, Il manoscritto Saibante-Hamilton 390 - Edizione critica‎, Rome: Salerno Editrice, 2019, →ISBN, page 324:

        Dela lengua vòi’ dir alò primeramente (northern Italy)

        Then I want to talk about language firstly

4. to say (indicate in a written form)
5. used as a generic synonym for certain verbs:
   1. Synonym of soggiungere (“to add”)
   2. Synonym of continuare (“to continue”)
   3. Synonym of rispondere (“to reply”)
   4. Synonym of confessare (“to confess”)
   5. Synonym of dichiarare (“to claim”)
   6. Synonym of raccontare (“to tell, relate, report”)
      • mid 13^th century, Gherardo Patecchio, Splanamento de li proverbi di Salomone [Explanation of Solomon's proverbs], lines 13–14; collected in Roberto Tagliani, editor, compiled by Maria Luisa Meneghetti, Il manoscritto Saibante-Hamilton 390 - Edizione critica‎, Rome: Salerno Editrice, 2019, →ISBN, page 324:

        Li savi no ’m reprenda s’eu no dirai sì ben
        com’ se vorave dir […] (northern Italy)

        May the wise not reproach me, if I do not retell as well as one should retell

   7. Synonym of affermare (“to declare, assert”)
   8. Synonym of suggerire (“to suggest, clue”)
   9. Synonym of credere (“to believe, assume”)
6. to mean
7. to express a concept with the proper word in a given language
8. (uncommon) to speak
9. (rare) to announce the wedding of

   domani vi dirò in chiesa ― Tomorrow I'll announce your wedding in church

Conjugation

Related terms

Noun

dire m (uncountable)

1. words

Anagrams

• Drei, Redi, idre, redi, ride

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈdiː.re/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈdi.re/,

Adjective

dīre

1. vocative masculine singular of dīrus

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 dīcere, present active infinitive of dīcō.

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 dīcere, present active infinitive of dīcō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdi.ɾe/

• Audio (Languedocien)

  (file)

Verb

dire

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

Conjugation

    Lengadocian (Central Occitan)

		simple			compound
infinitive		dire			aver dich
gerund		disent			use gerund of aver + past participle
past participle		dich			—
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ieu	tu	el	nosautres	vosautres	eles
	present	disi	dises	ditz	disèm	disètz	dison
	imperfect	disiái	disiás	disiá	disiam	disiatz	disián
	preterite	diguèri	diguères	diguèt	diguèrem	diguèretz	diguèron
	future	dirai	diràs	dirà	direm	diretz	diràn
	conditional	diriái	diriás	diriá	diriam	diriatz	dirián
	conditional 2nd form1	{{{49}}}	{{{50}}}	{{{51}}}	{{{52}}}	{{{53}}}	{{{54}}}
compound tenses	present perfect	use the present tense of aver + past participle
	pluperfect	use the imperfect tense of aver + past participle
	past anterior	use the preterite tense of aver + past participle
	future perfect	use the future tense of aver + past participle
	conditional perfect	use the conditional tense of aver + past participle
subjunctive		que ieu	que tu	que el	que nosautres	que vosautres	que eles
	present	diga	digas	diga	digam	digatz	digan
	imperfect	diguèsse	diguèsses	diguèsse	diguèssem	diguèssetz	diguèsson
compound tenses	past	use the present subjunctive of aver + past participle
	pluperfect	use the imperfect subjunctive of aver + past participle
imperative		—	tu	—	nosautres	vosautres	—
			diga		digam	digatz	1Now chiefly obsolete, still in use in some Limousin and Vivaro-Alpin dialects

Old French

Etymology

From a contraction of Latin dīcere, present active infinitive of dīcō.

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 dīcere, present active infinitive of dīcō.

Verb

dire

1. to say

Descendants

• Occitan: dire

Walloon

Etymology

From Old French dire, from a contraction of Latin dīcō, dīcere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diːʀ/

Verb

dire

1. to say