Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

dismal en · ADJ

Pronunciation

Etymology

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”).

Meanings

  1. Disastrous, calamitous.
  2. Disappointingly inadequate.
    • 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:
    • He received a dismal compensation.
  3. Causing despair; gloomy and bleak.
    • The storm made for a dismal weekend
  4. Depressing, dreary, cheerless.
    • 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:
    • She was lost in dismal thoughts of despair

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
most dismal Degree=Sup lexicographic
more dismal Degree=Cmp lexicographic

Deriveds

dismalness · dismally · undismal · Great Dismal Swamp · dismalize · dismality · dismal science · dismal Jimmy · dismal Dora · Dismal Swamp · dismalise

Synonyms

lean · dire · infelicitous · solemn · unconsolable · gloomy · gayless · meager · crestfallen · wistful · sorrow-ridden · mopey · disconsolate · melancholic · threnetical · sorrowful · solemn · scanty · meager · spiritless · elegious · skimpy · awanting · spare · unmerry · disgruntled · elegiac · down in the mouth · despondent · bummed out · downhearted · melancholy · triste · unsatisfactory · uncheery · grief-stricken · raunchy · dull · uncheerful · joyless · blue · depressed · bleak · sparse · downsome · wretched · catastrophic · slender · jawfallen · unhappy · woeful · comfortless · mournful · blitheless · lugubrious · atrabiliary · shattered · morose · passionate · saddened · desolate · no joke · inconsolable · damp · cataclysmic · paltry · down in the dumps · insufficient · mournful · downcast · threadbare · Plutonian · dispirited · cheerless · dark · geason · woebegone · chopfallen · Plutonic · sullen · lousy · drearisome · dreary · forlorn · unlively · lumpish · gray · ruthful · dolesome · chapfallen · sorrowsome · lamentful · wintry · tristful · joyless · saturnine · sullen · disheartened · heartsore · dismal · down · poor · mirthless · heavy-hearted · glum · ruinous · dreary · heartsick · low-spirited · deficient · lack-laughter · cut up · miserable · inadequate · cheerless · plaintive · sad · depressing · melancholy · sombre · woeful · grim · sorrowful · scant · forlorn · gloomy · lugubrious · scantling · lank · exiguous · doleful · woe · uncheerful · morose · miserable · grieving · scarce · dolesome · querulous · sleazy · paltry · gloomsome · uncheery · dejected · atrabilious · dismal · low · dreich · moody · measly · dismal · unsufficient · unhappy · lachrymose · spiritless · wanting · sunless · threnetic · somber · sombre · saturnine · disconsolate · doleful · desolate · wanty · drear

Translations (111)

ro dezamagitor de inadecvat (disappointingly inadequate) · hu bús (gloomy and bleak) · hi मनहूस (gloomy and bleak) · de trist (depressing) · he מדכא (depressing) · cs neutěšený (gloomy and bleak) · es pésimo (disappointingly inadequate) · de düster (depressing) · el θλιβερός (depressing) · fr lamentable (disappointingly inadequate) · cs pochmurný (gloomy and bleak) · fi ankea (gloomy and bleak) · cs tristní (disappointingly inadequate) · de trübsinnig (gloomy and bleak) · ru угрю́мый (gloomy and bleak) · pt inadequado (disappointingly inadequate) · de trostlos (gloomy and bleak) · hu vigasztalan (depressing) · hi लक़दक़ (gloomy and bleak) · hu elszomorító (disappointingly inadequate) · fi synkkä (gloomy and bleak) · hi तमस्वी (gloomy and bleak) · hi वीरान (gloomy and bleak) · cs depresivní (depressing) · hi रूखा (gloomy and bleak) · fi synkkä (depressing) · ko 음침하다 (gloomy and bleak) · de traurig (depressing) · fr déprimant (depressing) · fi synkeä (depressing) · la funestus (gloomy and bleak) · de unzureichend (disappointingly inadequate) · cs neradostný (disappointingly inadequate) · bg тъ́жен (depressing) · cs chmurný (depressing) · es mísero (disappointingly inadequate) · am ቀፋፊ (gloomy and bleak) · bg уни́л (depressing) · es funesto (gloomy and bleak) · de traurig (gloomy and bleak) · el θλιβερός (gloomy and bleak) · hi फीका (gloomy and bleak) · fr misérable (disappointingly inadequate) · hi तमोमय (gloomy and bleak) · de freudlos (gloomy and bleak) · hu szomorú (gloomy and bleak) · hi मलिन (gloomy and bleak) · cs katastrofální (disappointingly inadequate) · cs neradostný (gloomy and bleak) · de finster (depressing) · el ζοφερός (gloomy and bleak) · no stusslig (gloomy and bleak) · hu sötét (gloomy and bleak) · bg плачевен (disappointingly inadequate) · nl akelig (gloomy and bleak) · de trübselig (depressing) · de freudlos (depressing) · fr lugubre (gloomy and bleak) · hi उजाड़ (gloomy and bleak) · ota آجی (depressing) · es lúgubre (gloomy and bleak) · hu szomorú (depressing) · cs pochmurný (depressing) · hi निराशाजनक (disappointingly inadequate) · fi surkea (disappointingly inadequate) · bg мра́чен (gloomy and bleak) · cs bezútěšný (gloomy and bleak) · hu lehangoló (depressing) · cs neuspokojivý (disappointingly inadequate) · hu komor (depressing) · ota آجی (gloomy and bleak) · de kläglich (disappointingly inadequate) · fr morne (gloomy and bleak) · de trübe (gloomy and bleak) · de unzulänglich (disappointingly inadequate) · hu sikertelen (disappointingly inadequate) · gd brònach (depressing) · es tétrico (gloomy and bleak) · fi surullinen (depressing) · de unglücklich (depressing) · pt sombrio (gloomy and bleak) · de trist (gloomy and bleak) · de jämmerlich (disappointingly inadequate) · cs žalostný (disappointingly inadequate) · ru мра́чный (gloomy and bleak) · ru гнету́щий (depressing) · tr kasvetli (gloomy and bleak) · hi सुनसान (gloomy and bleak) · cs deprimující (depressing) · cs chmurný (gloomy and bleak) · de deprimierend (depressing) · mi poururu (gloomy and bleak) · hu gyászos (depressing) · de miserabel (disappointingly inadequate) · ru уны́лый (gloomy and bleak) · de fade (gloomy and bleak) · tr berbat (disappointingly inadequate) · de trüb (gloomy and bleak) · eo senĝoja (gloomy and bleak) · de trübselig (gloomy and bleak) · de deprimiert (depressing) · ru уны́лый (depressing) · de finster (gloomy and bleak) · mi whakapoururu (gloomy and bleak) · de düster (gloomy and bleak) · ro deprimant (depressing) · fi surullinen (gloomy and bleak) · bg нищожен (disappointingly inadequate) · de trübsinnig (depressing) · de trostlos (depressing) · de fad (gloomy and bleak)

dismal en · NOUN

Pronunciation

Etymology

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”).

Meanings

  1. (US, dated, possibly, qualifier:especially North Carolina) 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 the lands will produce their usual effects in ameliorating the climate and that the tidal portions of No. Caro- lina may thus[…] 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:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
dismals Number=Plur lexicographic

Relateds

the dismals