dismal

adjective

dis·​mal ˈdiz-məl 

1

: showing or causing gloom (see gloom entry 2 sense 2) or depression

the dismal prison twilight

—Charles Dickens

2

: lacking merit : particularly bad

a dismal performance

3

obsolete : disastrous, dreadful

dismally

ˈdiz-mə-lē 

adverb

dismalness noun

Did you know?

The Evil History of Dismal

In late antiquity, certain days each month, called “Egyptian days,” were regarded as inauspicious, probably as a relic of ancient Egyptian belief. By the Middle Ages, people took them to be anniversaries of the Biblical plagues in Egypt. There were 24 such days per year, and in Anglo-French they were called collectively dismal (from Latin dies mali, “evil days”), and this word was borrowed into Middle English. In time the “evil days” sense was forgotten and dismal was simply taken to mean “disastrous.” The noun dismal, meaning “swamp,” goes back to the 1700s when the marshy region in Virginia and North Carolina was named the Great Dismal Swamp.

Synonyms

• black
• bleak
• cheerless
• chill
• Cimmerian
• cloudy
• cold
• comfortless
• dark
• darkening
• depressing
• depressive
• desolate
• dire
• disconsolate
• drear
• dreary
• dreich [chiefly Scottish]
• elegiac
• elegiacal
• forlorn
• funereal
• gloomy
• glum
• godforsaken
• gray
• grey
• lonely
• lonesome
• lugubrious
• miserable
• morbid
• morose
• murky
• plutonian
• saturnine
• sepulchral
• solemn
• somber
• sombre
• sullen
• sunless
• tenebrific
• tenebrous
• wretched

Choose the Right Synonym for dismal

dismal, dreary, bleak, gloomy, cheerless, desolate mean devoid of cheer or comfort.

dismal indicates extreme and utterly depressing gloominess.

dismal weather

dreary, often interchangeable with dismal, emphasizes discouragement resulting from sustained dullness or futility.

a dreary job

bleak suggests chill, dull, and barren characteristics that utterly dishearten.

the bleak years of the depression

gloomy often suggests lack of hope or promise.

gloomy war news

cheerless stresses absence of anything cheering.

a drab and cheerless office

desolate adds an element of utter remoteness or lack of human contact to any already disheartening aspect.

a desolate outpost

Examples of dismal in a Sentence

The show was a dismal failure.

The team's record is dismal.

Recent Examples on the Web

There are some good signs for Democrats, multiple analysts say, but whether the campaign can address Charlotte’s dismal voter turnout remains to be seen. —Mary Ramsey, Charlotte Observer, 10 Apr. 2024

The book is probably best known for a dismal 1970 adaptation starring Raquel Welch and John Huston that remains bolted to lists of the worst-ever movies. —Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2024

State had lost seven of nine games to end their regular season a dismal 17-14, a record too mediocre to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. —Becky Sullivan, NPR, 5 Apr. 2024

The National Weather Service in Dallas said there's only a dismal 15% chance for favorable viewing conditions in Big D on April 8. —Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 1 Apr. 2024

Its birthrate has nevertheless plunged to 1.36 children per woman, much lower than Alto Adige-South Tyrol’s and much closer to the dismal national average. —Gaia Pianigiani, New York Times, 1 Apr. 2024

The news was first reported Wednesday that Kelsey would be succeeding Kenny Payne, who was fired earlier this month after posting a dismal 12-52 record in two seasons, the worst in major college basketball during that time. —Adam Zagoria, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024

Before that stretch, the team had lost seven of their last nine regular season games to end the regular season a dismal 17-14, a record simply too mediocre to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. —Becky Sullivan, NPR, 29 Mar. 2024

And in 2021, of those who were fortunate enough to have a bystander call 911 and have emergency medical services come to their assistance, only around 9 percent survived long enough to be discharged from a hospital — a dismal number that has barely budged in decades. —Helen Ouyang, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from dismal, noun, days marked as unlucky in medieval calendars, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin dies mali, literally, evil days

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Kids Definition

dismal

adjective

dis·​mal ˈdiz-məl 

1

: very gloomy and depressing : dreary

dismal weather

2

: lacking in merit : particularly bad

a dismal performance

dismally

-mə-lē 

adverb

Etymology

Middle English dismal "days marked on a calendar as unlucky," from early French (same meaning), from Latin dies mali, "evil days"

Word Origin

At the time of the Roman Empire, certain days of each month, called "Egyptian days," were regarded as inauspicious. These days of ill omen were probably a relic of ancient Egyptian belief, but their source had been forgotten by the Middle Ages. People then took them to be anniversaries of the plagues visited on Egypt in Moses' time—though there were 24 Egyptian days in the year and only ten biblical plagues. In medieval French the Egyptian days were called collectively dismal (from Latin dies mali, "evil days"), and this word was borrowed into Middle English. Any day of the 24 was a dismal day, but the original sense "evil days" was forgotten, and dismal was simply taken as an adjective meaning "disastrous."