: in a very bad or difficult situation With its best player out of the game, the team found itself in dire straits.

Where does the phrase in dire straits come from?

In 1888, Joseph Thomson used the phrase dire straits in the story “A Masai Adventure.” The first recorded usage of the phrase was a speech by former United States president Franklin Delano Roosevelt on July 24, 1933.

What does dire state Meaning?

1 (Also) direful disastrous; fearful. 2 desperate; urgent. a dire need. 3 foreboding disaster; ominous.