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Dismally - 3 dictionary results

dis⋅mal

  [diz-muhl]
Use Dismally in a Sentence
–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; ME dismale unlucky time, dismol day one of two days in each month considered unlucky (hence later taken as adj.) < AF dis mal < ML diēs malī lit., evil days

Related forms:
dis⋅mal⋅ly, adverb
dis⋅mal⋅ness, dis⋅mal⋅i⋅ty, noun

Synonyms:
2. hopeless, abysmal, dreadful.

Antonyms:
1. cheerful; gay.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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dis·mal   (dĭz'məl)   
adj.  
  1. Causing gloom or depression; dreary: dismal weather; took a dismal view of the economy.
  2. Characterized by ineptitude, dullness, or a lack of merit: a dismal book; a dismal performance on the cello.
  3. Obsolete Dreadful; disastrous.
n.  Chiefly South Atlantic U.S. See pocosin. See Regional Note at pocosin.

[Middle English, unlucky days, unlucky, from Anglo-Norman, unlucky days, from Medieval Latin diēs malī : Latin diēs, pl. of diēs, day; see dyeu- in Indo-European roots + Latin malī, pl. of malus, evil; see mel-3 in Indo-European roots.]
dis'mal·ly adv., dis'mal·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Dismally

Dis"mal*ly\, adv. In a dismal manner; gloomily; sorrowfully; uncomfortably.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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