dismal
/ˈdɪzməl/
dismal adjective: disastrous, calamitous.
Adjective
dismal (comparative more dismal, superlative most dismal)
- Disastrous, calamitous.
- Synonyms:
- cataclysmic, catastrophic, ruinous
- Disappointingly inadequate.
- He received a dismal compensation.
- Liverpool's efforts thereafter had an air of desperation as their dismal 2012 league form continued.2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport
- Synonyms:
- meager, paltry, awanting, deficient, exiguous, geason, inadequate, insufficient, lank, lean
- Causing despair; gloomy and bleak.
- The storm made for a dismal weekend
- Synonyms:
- desolate, dreary, cheerless, comfortless, bleak, dark, morose, depressing, dire, disconsolate
- Depressing, dreary, cheerless.
- She was lost in dismal thoughts of despair
- 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.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- sorrowful, mournful, atrabiliary, atrabilious, blitheless, dispirited, blue, bummed out, chapfallen, cheerless
Noun
dismal (plural dismals)
- A dreary swamp in eastern North Carolina or Virginia in the United States.
- .[…] the proprietors of all the great unimproved tracts of Swamp lands will form themselves into Drainage Companies, by which method alone can we ever hope to witness the complete reclamation of the dismals of the seaboard. No reasonable doubt can be entertained that the clearing and draining of...1908, Charles Lee Coon, The Beginnings of Public Education in North Carolina: A Documentary History, 1790-1840, page 949
- The term "Dismal" requires some clarification. At one time, all large swamps in eastern North Carolina were commonly referred to as "dismals," probably because they were so gloomy, dreary, and dark, and there are a lot of swamps or "dismals" in eastern North Carolina.2020 May 1, Hudson, Berman, Our Good Earth: A Natural History of Soil, Algora Publishing, →ISBN, page 167
dismal meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
dismal in Hindi
- disappointingly inadequate
- निराशाजनक nirāśājnak
- gloomy and bleak
- मनहूस manhūs, वीरान vīrān, सुनसान sunsān, उजाड़ ujāṛ, लक़दक़ laqdaq, तमस्वी tamasvī
dismal in Urdu
- dismal
- اندھیرا andherā
- dismal, wretched
- منحوس manhūs
dismal in Bengali
- বিষণ্ণ, শোচনীয়, অত্যন্ত অন্ধকার, আনন্দহীন
dismal in Malayalam
- അപ്രസന്നമായ, ശോകമൂകമായ, ഇരുണ്ട
More languagesFewer languages
- dismal in Kannada
- ಮಂಕುಕವಿದ, ಕೊರಗುವ, ನಿರುತ್ಸಾಹದ, ವಿಷಾದಕರ
- dismal in Punjabi
- ਹਨੇਰਾ hanerā
- dismal in Sanskrit
- रूक्ष rūkṣá
- dismal in Assamese
- আন্ধাৰ andhar, এন্ধাৰ endhar
Examples of dismal in a sentence
- After a dismal few months my life at long last changed for the better.
- National reports on the condition of public education are dismal.
- The picture in parts of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is similarly dismal.
Synonyms of dismal
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of dismal
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more dismal |
| superlative | most dismal |
| Noun | |
| plural | dismals |
Origin of dismal
From Middle English dismal, dismale, from Anglo-Norman dismal, from Old French (li) dis mals (“(the) bad days”), from Medieval Latin diēs malī (“bad days”).
Words formed from dismal
- dismal Dora
- dismalise
- dismality
- dismalize
- dismal Jimmy
- dismally
- dismalness
- dismal science
- Dismal Swamp
- Great Dismal Swamp
- undismal
Phrases with dismal
Words that rhyme with dismal
Questions about dismal
- What does dismal mean?
- Dismal means disastrous, calamitous.
- What is dismal in Hindi?
- Dismal in Hindi is निराशाजनक (nirāśājnak), मनहूस (manhūs), वीरान (vīrān). See Dismal meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is dismal?
- Dismal can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce dismal?
- Dismal is pronounced /ˈdɪzməl/.
Words near dismal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dismal (page history and authors); اندھیرا (Urdu) (page history and authors); Dismal (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dismal (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dismal (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਹਨੇਰਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); रूक्ष (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); আন্ধাৰ (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-dismal.ogg.
Cite this entry: “dismal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dismal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.