Answer:

dire

Answer	Crossword Clue
DIRE	Critical
DIRE	Macabre
DIRE	Sinister

DIRE	Straits or consequences preceder
DIRE	Urgent
DIRE	Harrowing
DIRE	Kind of straits
DIRE	Like some straits
DIRE	Serious
DIRE	Very urgent
DIRE	Disastrous

DIRE	Pressing
DIRE	Ominous
DIRE	Dreadful
DIRE	Calamitous
DIRE	Desperate
DIRE	Catastrophic
DIRE	Modifier for straits
DIRE	Nearly hopeless

DIRE	Worrisome
DIRE	Likely to end badly
DIRE	Extremely serious
DIRE	Seemingly hopeless
DIRE	Cataclysmic
DIRE	Desperate, as straits
DIRE	Dreadful, as consequences
DIRE	Awful

DIRE	Like some consequences
DIRE	More than serious
DIRE	Urgently desperate
DIRE	Threatening
DIRE	... straits
DIRE	Desperately urgent
DIRE	Extremely urgent
DIRE	In ... straits

DIRE	Foreboding disaster
DIRE	... Straits
DIRE	Extremely worrisome
DIRE	Fraught with danger
DIRE	Terrible