What does dismal mean?

Definitions for dismal
ˈdɪz məldis·mal

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word dismal.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. blue, dark, dingy, disconsolate, dismal, gloomy, grim, sorry, drab, drear, drearyadjective

    causing dejection

    "a blue day"; "the dark days of the war"; "a week of rainy depressing weather"; "a disconsolate winter landscape"; "the first dismal dispiriting days of November"; "a dark gloomy day"; "grim rainy weather"

Wiktionary

  1. dismaladjective

    Disappointingly inadequate.

    He received a dismal compensation

  2. dismaladjective

    Gloomy and bleak.

    The storm made for a dismal weekend

  3. dismaladjective

    Depressing.

    She was lost in dismal thoughts of despair

  4. Etymology: From dies and malus ("bad day").

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. DISMALadjective

    Sorrowful; dire; horrid; melancholy; uncomfortable; unhappy; dark.

    Etymology: dies malus, Latin, an evil day.

    On the one hand set the most glittering temptations to discord, and on the other view the dismal effects of it. Dec. of Piety.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Dismaladjective

    fatal; ill-omened; unlucky

  2. Dismaladjective

    gloomy to the eye or ear; sorrowful and depressing to the feelings; foreboding; cheerless; dull; dreary; as, a dismal outlook; dismal stories; a dismal place

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Dismal

    diz′mal, adj. gloomy: dreary: sorrowful: depressing.—adv. Dis′mally.—ns. Dis′malness, Dismal′ity.—n.pl. Dis′mals, mournings.—The dismals, the dumps. [O. Fr. dismal = L. dies mali, evil, unlucky days. Skeat makes O. Fr. dismal correspond to Low L. decimalis, of a tenth, pertaining to tithes—L. decimus, tenth—decem, ten.]

How to pronounce dismal?

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of dismal in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of dismal in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of dismal in a Sentence

  1. Mike Strobel:

    It's looking pretty dismal over much of the West, but there are some areas where we're OK.

  2. Sadie Weiner:

    Panicked over his dismal reelection prospects, it appears that no bloc of Illinois voters is safe from the over-the-top and offensive rhetoric that seems to spew weekly from Mark Kirk's mouth.

  3. Stephen Innes:

    It's not economic uncertainty we should be worried about rather its the doom and gloom economic realities that the key forward-looking manufacturing PMI's are telling us about the dismal health of this rapidly deteriorating global macro environment.

  4. Phil Robertson:

    Nothing that Amos Yee said or posted should ever have been considered criminal -- much less merit incarceration, the dismal state of Singapore's respect for free expression can be seen in the decision to impose the criminal justice system on outspoken 16-year-olds.

  5. Henry Van Dyke:

    Half of the secular unrest and dismal, profane sadness of modern society comes from the vain ideas that every man is bound to be a critic for life.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

dismal#10000#28539#100000

Translations for dismal

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"dismal." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 5 Jun 2023. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/dismal>.

Discuss these dismal definitions with the community:

1 Comment
  • P Menon
    P Menon
    Lovely word-his future as a pop artist looked dismal because he was not having many hits on the billboard
    LikeReply5 years ago

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