fearful vs dire

fearful and dire both are adjectives.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
fearful	No	Yes	No	No
dire	No	Yes	No	No

As adjectives, fearful and dire are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of fearful include awful, direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible.

fearful (adjective)	dire (adjective)
lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted	fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless
experiencing or showing fear	causing fear or dread or terror
causing fear or dread or terror
extremely distressing
timid by nature or revealing timidity