But it is the well-known world that seems particularly dire at this moment.
Poland's labour-force participation rate is dire, at around 54%, ten points below the EU average.
The game was a microcosm of the home side's season, brilliant at times, dire at others.
Things have never gotten so dire at Pilobolus, and if Mr. Kubovy can help it, they never will.
The situation was so dire at one point that Louis van Gaal claimed it was the worst injury crisis he had seen in his long managerial career.
He was repeatedly forced to demonstrate to Congress that the economic situation was dire, at the risk of further panicking the markets.
The situation was still more dire at University Hospital, where patients and staff members evacuated the building and many traumatized Haitians feared going back in.
The situation was equally dire at shortstop, where Derek Jeter's six replacements combined for a.548 O.P.S., which would be the lowest ever for a Yankees shortstop.
These projections often prove unduly dire, at least in normal times, but the collapse of the World Trade Center has changed everything.
And I want to emphasize that the situation is just as dire at the other end of the employment curve — workers 50 to 64.
Fabio Capello was the nation's darling in 2009, when he was given the coach of the year prize at the BBC's Sports Personality awards, but England were dire at the World Cup in South Africa the following summer.
