dismal
Americanadjective
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causing gloom or dejection; gloomy; dreary; cheerless; melancholy.
dismal weather.
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characterized by ineptness or lack of skill, competence, effectiveness, imagination, or interest; pitiful.
Our team played a dismal game.
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Obsolete.
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disastrous; calamitous.
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unlucky; sinister.
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noun
adjective
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causing gloom or depression
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causing dismay or terror
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of poor quality or a low standard; feeble
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dismal
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English dismale “unlucky time,” dismol day one of two days in each month considered unlucky (hence later taken as adjective), from Anglo-French dis mal, from Medieval Latin diēs malī, literally, “evil days”; cf. diary ( def. ), mal- ( def. )
Explanation
Dismal is a dreary, depressing sort of bad. "With the cold rain and their team behind by six field goals, the mood in the stands was so dismal even the cheerleaders had lost their 'Rah.'" Dismal comes from the Latin dies mali which means "bad days." There is a hopelessness implied in the word. If you fell on the way to school and cut your knee, it would be bad, but not dismal. If you fell into a giant mud puddle and had to wear dirty, crusty clothes until you got home, it might make the school day seem pretty dismal.
Vocabulary lists containing dismal
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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Take the Bad with the Good: Bene and Mal
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 9
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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.
However, they should have been better than two wins in 10, and the dismal nature of Pakistan's performance means Root's men can only take limited encouragement from their week in Leeds.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Andoni Iraola has arrived from Bournemouth to restore some order after a dismal title defence last season.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Hearts' Scottish Premiership duties start on Saturday evening with a tricky trip to Aberdeen, where they have a dismal record, losing 10 of their past 11 league visits.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Back in 2022, when the company was spending heavily on the so-called metaverse, it reported dismal third-quarter results.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Determined to shake my dismal thoughts, I wiped my tears with a corner of the soiled linen sheet that clung to me.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
Definitions 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.
