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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
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.
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)
- 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.
- Gloomy and bleak.
- The storm made for a dismal weekend
- 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
disappointingly inadequate
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gloomy and bleak
depressing
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