Nearby Words
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.
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Dismals
is always a great word to know.
So is ort. Does it mean:
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
| an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. |
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. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
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Link To dismals
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
EXPANDAges, 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.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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