Most states now exempt such students, and including their scores with those of other students could drag down a school's performance, with potentially dire consequences.

Even the relatively new issue of global warming has been batted around since 1988, when Al Gore began talking about its potentially dire effects.

This has potentially dire consequences for Internet access providers, since their product is speech, and workplace clients generate most of their revenue.

The auguries of starting the calendar with a headache and a fur tongue seemed potentially dire.

Controls on the emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases, represent a potentially dire threat to auto makers.

But as things stand, failure, with its potentially dire consequences for American world leadership, cannot be ruled out.

That has left doctors playing a guessing game with potentially dire consequences.

If the economic situation changes for the worse, short-term capital of this kind can easily be moved away - with potentially dire effects.

The installation and maintenance of a vast fleet of satellites would have potentially dire ecological consequences.

However, the Congresswoman warned of a potentially dire future if some political...