But unlike many other detractors of the dismal errand into Iraq, Danner leavens his acid judgments with firsthand reporting.
The national numbers recorded on Polling Report are dismal.
Peres still hopes to “see ... peace come to this dismal and wonderful ... part of the world.”
The American economic debate in the face of these looming challenges has been dismal.
Movie audiences ignored the fiasco to the tune of a dismal $5 million debut.
The courier was then introduced, and made his dismal report.
And that word sent its dismal echo even to Dea Flavia's ear.
A gondolier with a grudge can be a most dismal companion, for he talks to himself.
It was then, for much of its distance, rather a dismal stream, sluggishly winding through marshes lined with alders.
But a dismal succession of new falsehoods and new blind guides appeared.
c.1400, from Anglo-French dismal (mid-13c.), from Old French (li) dis mals "(the) bad days," from Medieval Latin dies mali "evil or unlucky days" (also called dies Ægyptiaci), from Latin dies "days" (see diurnal) + mali, plural of malus "bad" (see mal-).
Through the Middle Ages, calendars marked two days of each month as unlucky, supposedly based on the ancient calculations of Egyptian astrologers (Jan. 1, 25; Feb. 4, 26; March 1, 28; April 10, 20; May 3, 25; June 10, 16; July 13, 22; Aug. 1, 30; Sept. 3, 21; Oct. 3, 22; Nov. 5, 28; Dec. 7, 22). Modern sense of "gloomy, dreary" first recorded in English 1590s, in reference to sounds. Related: Dismally.
