dismal
[ diz-muhl ]
/ ˈdɪz məl /
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adjective
causing gloom or dejection; gloomy; dreary; cheerless; melancholy: dismal weather.
characterized by ineptness or lack of skill, competence, effectiveness, imagination, or interest; pitiful: Our team played a dismal game.
Obsolete.
- disastrous; calamitous.
- unlucky; sinister.
noun
Southern U.S. a tract of swampy land, usually along the coast.
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Origin of dismal
1275–1325; Middle English dismale unlucky time, dismol day one of two days in each month considered unlucky (hence later taken as adj.) <Anglo-French dis mal<Medieval Latin diēs malī literally, evil days
OTHER WORDS FROM dismal
dis·mal·ly, adverbdis·mal·ness, dis·mal·i·ty, nounDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
How to use dismal in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for dismal
dismal
/ (ˈdɪzməl) /
adjective
causing gloom or depression
causing dismay or terror
of poor quality or a low standard; feeble
Derived forms of dismal
dismally, adverbdismalness, nounWord Origin for dismal
C13: from dismal (noun) list of 24 unlucky days in the year, from Medieval Latin diēs malī bad days, from Latin diēs day + malus bad
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