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Webster 1913 Edition


Dismal

Dis′mal

,
Adj.
[Formerly a noun; e. g., “I trow it was in the
dismalle
.”
Chaucer
. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF.
disme
, F.
dîme
, tithe, the phrase
dismal day
properly meaning, the day when tithes must be paid. See
Dime
.]
1.
Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky.
[Obs.]
An ugly fiend more foul than
dismal
day.
Spenser.
2.
Gloomy to the eye or ear; sorrowful and depressing to the feelings; foreboding; cheerless; dull; dreary;
as, a
dismal
outlook;
dismal
stories; a
dismal
place.
Full well the busy whisper, circling round,
Convey’d the
dismal
tidings when he frowned.
Goldsmith.
Syn. – Dreary; lonesome; gloomy; dark; ominous; ill-boding; fatal; doleful; lugubrious; funereal; dolorous; calamitous; sorrowful; sad; joyless; melancholy; unfortunate; unhappy.

Webster 1828 Edition


Dismal

DISMAL

,
Adj.
s as z. [I am not satisfied with the etymologies of this word which I have seen. ]
1.
Dark; gloomy; as a dismal shade.
2.
Sorrowful; dire; horrid; melancholy; calamitous; unfortunate; as a dismal accident; dismal effects.
3.
Frightful; horrible; as a dismal scream.

Definition 2024


dismal

dismal

English

Adjective

dismal (comparative more dismal, superlative most dismal)

  1. Disappointingly inadequate.
    He received a dismal compensation.
    • 2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:
      Liverpool's efforts thereafter had an air of desperation as their dismal 2012 league form continued.
  2. Gloomy and bleak.
    The storm made for a dismal weekend
  3. Depressing.
    She was lost in dismal thoughts of despair
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 12, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all. It looked like a tomb and smelt pretty nigh as musty and dead-and-gone.

Usage notes

  • Nouns to which "dismal" is often applied: failure, performance, state, record, place, result, scene, season, year, economy, future, fate, weather, news, condition, history.

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:cheerless

Derived terms

Translations