dismayed
Americanadjective
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thoroughly disheartened, as by sudden danger or trouble.
When he was sick and in prison, and the non-cooperation movement ebbed, Gandhi was not dismayed or discouraged.
-
surprised and disillusioned or disappointed.
Many were dismayed at the way the ad trivialized the Tibetan people's struggle for freedom and survival.
-
alarmed or perturbed.
As a teacher in a K-8 school, I am extremely dismayed at the talk of more unstable funding for education.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dismayed
Explanation
When you're dismayed, you're aghast, or shocked by disappointment. Your dismayed teacher's face showed that she expected the test grades to be much higher. Dismayed describes feeling appalled or distressed. The word implies a sense of being let down, the way you'd feel if your favorite baseball team lost the World Series, or if your birthday present wasn't the ticket to France you'd hoped for, but was just a pink sweater. You can also feel dismayed when expecting more from someone, like being dismayed to see your environmental science teacher throwing recyclables in the trash.
Vocabulary lists containing dismayed
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“I don’t talk and think Slavery all the time,” Shaw told his dismayed parents as the secession crisis worsened.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Among other things, James was dismayed that the Writers Guild of America — which had separately sued to block the deal — hadn’t been brought into the negotiations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
Earlier this week, PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp said the circuit was dismayed by the advert, describing Good Good's initial handling of the controversy as "disappointing."
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
Ogilvie’s Connecticut Congregationalist peers would have been dismayed to see the fruit of Protestant evangelism turn against American independence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
He was a shrewd, soft-spoken man who was well-disposed to our mission, but his perception of the situation surprised and dismayed me.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
