dismal

adjective

dis·​mal ˈdiz-məl 

1

: showing or causing gloom (see gloom entry 2 sense 2) or depression

the dismal prison twilight

—Charles Dickens

2

: lacking merit : particularly bad

a dismal performance

3

obsolete : disastrous, dreadful

dismally

ˈdiz-mə-lē 

adverb

dismalness noun

Did you know?

The Evil History of Dismal

In late antiquity, certain days each month, called “Egyptian days,” were regarded as inauspicious, probably as a relic of ancient Egyptian belief. By the Middle Ages, people took them to be anniversaries of the Biblical plagues in Egypt. There were 24 such days per year, and in Anglo-French they were called collectively dismal (from Latin dies mali, “evil days”), and this word was borrowed into Middle English. In time the “evil days” sense was forgotten and dismal was simply taken to mean “disastrous.” The noun dismal, meaning “swamp,” goes back to the 1700s when the marshy region in Virginia and North Carolina was named the Great Dismal Swamp.

Synonyms

• black
• bleak
• cheerless
• chill
• Cimmerian
• cloudy
• cold
• comfortless
• dark
• darkening
• depressing
• depressive
• desolate
• dire
• disconsolate
• drear
• dreary
• dreich [chiefly Scottish]
• elegiac
• elegiacal
• forlorn
• funereal
• gloomy
• glum
• godforsaken
• gray
• grey
• lonely
• lonesome
• lugubrious
• miserable
• morbid
• morose
• murky
• plutonian
• saturnine
• sepulchral
• solemn
• somber
• sombre
• sullen
• sunless
• tenebrific
• tenebrous
• wretched

Choose the Right Synonym for dismal

dismal, dreary, bleak, gloomy, cheerless, desolate mean devoid of cheer or comfort.

dismal indicates extreme and utterly depressing gloominess.

dismal weather

dreary, often interchangeable with dismal, emphasizes discouragement resulting from sustained dullness or futility.

a dreary job

bleak suggests chill, dull, and barren characteristics that utterly dishearten.

the bleak years of the depression

gloomy often suggests lack of hope or promise.

gloomy war news

cheerless stresses absence of anything cheering.

a drab and cheerless office

desolate adds an element of utter remoteness or lack of human contact to any already disheartening aspect.

a desolate outpost

Examples of dismal in a Sentence

The show was a dismal failure.

The team's record is dismal.

Recent Examples on the Web

But anyone who expressed surprise at Russia’s initially dismal performance had obviously never set foot on a base — all those photo reports taken at clever angles, showing full shelves at empty warehouses. —Sarah A. Topol, New York Times, 20 Sep. 2024

The partnership likely alleviated some of the pain of a dismal quarter for Olive Garden, which reported a 2.9% drop in same-store sales for the quarter. —Jordan Valinsky, CNN, 19 Sep. 2024

This means the rising value for the 3011 North First Street property’s upswing contrasts starkly with the region’s dismal trends. —George Avalos, The Mercury News, 8 Aug. 2024

Catch up quick: Behind rookie quarterback Bo Nix, the Broncos struggled mightily in the first game of the season with two interceptions, a dismal running game and defense that faltered down the stretch. —John Frank, Axios, 13 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from dismal, noun, days marked as unlucky in medieval calendars, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin dies mali, literally, evil days

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Kids Definition

dismal

adjective

dis·​mal ˈdiz-məl 

1

: very gloomy and depressing : dreary

dismal weather

2

: lacking in merit : particularly bad

a dismal performance

dismally

-mə-lē 

adverb

Etymology

Middle English dismal "days marked on a calendar as unlucky," from early French (same meaning), from Latin dies mali, "evil days"

Word Origin

At the time of the Roman Empire, certain days of each month, called "Egyptian days," were regarded as inauspicious. These days of ill omen were probably a relic of ancient Egyptian belief, but their source had been forgotten by the Middle Ages. People then took them to be anniversaries of the plagues visited on Egypt in Moses' time—though there were 24 Egyptian days in the year and only ten biblical plagues. In medieval French the Egyptian days were called collectively dismal (from Latin dies mali, "evil days"), and this word was borrowed into Middle English. Any day of the 24 was a dismal day, but the original sense "evil days" was forgotten, and dismal was simply taken as an adjective meaning "disastrous."