The evidence shows that dire poverty makes people unhappy, but at the other extreme, great wealth has little effect on subjective wellbeing.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Particularly in the cities, bad times forced many unskilled laborers and their families into dire poverty.
The American Nation: A History of the United States to 1877 (1995)
Welfare handouts were designed as a safety net against dire poverty.
The Sun (2012)