dismal
Use Dismal in a sentence
məl adjective
1.
causing gloom or dejection; gloomy; dreary; cheerless; melancholy: dismal weather.
2.
characterized by ineptness or lack of skill, competence, effectiveness, imagination, or interest; pitiful: Our team played a dismal game.
3.
Obsolete.
a.
disastrous; calamitous.
b.
unlucky; sinister.
noun
4.
Southern U.S. a tract of swampy land, usually along the coast.
Origin:
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
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
Related forms
dis·mal·ly, adverb
dis·mal·ness, dis·mal·i·ty, noun
Synonyms
2. hopeless, abysmal, dreadful.
2. hopeless, abysmal, dreadful.
Antonyms
1. cheerful; gay.
1. cheerful; gay.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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|
Link To Dismal
00:10
Dismal
is a GRE word you need to know.
So is discern. Does it mean:
| to injure the reputation of |
| to perceive by the sight or some other sense or by the intellect; see, recognize, or apprehend: |
Collins
World English Dictionary
dismal (ˈdɪzməl) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —adj | |
| 1. | causing gloom or depression |
| 2. | causing dismay or terror |
| 3. | of poor quality or a low standard; feeble |
| [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] | |
| 'dismally | |
| —adv | |
| 'dismalness | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
dismal
c.1400, from Anglo-Fr. dismal, from O.Fr. (li) dis mals "(the) bad days," from M.L. dies mali "evil or unlucky days" (also called dies Ægyptiaci), from L. dies "days" (see diurnal) + mali, pl. of malus "bad" (see mal-). Through the Middle
Ages, calendars marked two days of each month as unlucky, supposedly based on the ancient calculations of Egyptian astrologers. Modern sense of "gloomy, dreary" first recorded in English 1590s, in reference to sounds. Related: Dismally.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Cite This Source
Example sentences
The report stresses the dismal condition of the labor market and anemic job growth during the recovery.
The science of diet should be referred to as the dismal science rather than economics.
Nonetheless, if an artist aims to mature, he might find it expedient to dispense with that dismal wisdom.
Minter is looking at a housing collapse to spark a deflationary spiral — a dismal period of falling prices.
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