Synonyms for dismal
adj bleak, dreary, gloomy- depressing
- dim
- discouraging
- disheartening
- dull
- ghastly
- horrible
- horrid
- miserable
- murky
- sad
- afflictive
- black
- boring
- cheerless
- cloudy
- dark
- depressed
- desolate
- despondent
- dingy
- disagreeable
- dispiriting
- doleful
- dolorous
- forlorn
- frowning
- funereal
- gruesome
- hopeless
- in the pits
- inauspicious
- joyless
- lonesome
- lowering
- lugubrious
- melancholy
- monotonous
- morbid
- oppressive
- overcast
- shadowy
- somber
- sorrowful
- tedious
- tenebrous
- troublesome
- unfortunate
- unhappy
Antonyms for dismal
bleak
bleakest
blue
cheerless
- austere
- black
- bleak
- blue
- comfortless
- dark
- dejected
- dejecting
- depressed
- desolate
- despondent
- disconsolate
- dismal
- dispiriting
- dolorous
- drab
- draggy
- drearisome
- dreary
- dull
- forlorn
- funereal
- gloomy
- grim
- in the dumps
- jarring
- joyless
- melancholy
- miserable
- mopey
- mournful
- oppressive
- sad
- somber
- sorrowful
- sullen
- tenebrific
- uncomfortable
- wintry
- woebegone
- woeful
Word Origin & History
c.1400, from Anglo-French dismal (mid-13c.), from Old French (li) dis mals "(the) bad days," from Medieval Latin dies mali "evil or unlucky days" (also called dies Ægyptiaci), from Latin dies "days" (see diurnal) + mali, plural 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 (Jan. 1, 25; Feb. 4, 26; March 1, 28; April 10, 20; May 3, 25; June 10, 16; July 13, 22; Aug. 1, 30; Sept. 3, 21; Oct. 3, 22; Nov. 5, 28; Dec. 7, 22). Modern sense of "gloomy, dreary" first recorded in English 1590s, in reference to sounds. Related: Dismally.
Example Sentences fordismal
This illuminated the entire room, but in a partial and dismal manner.
Many a dismal and unhappy tale might be wrought out of its other adventures.
She felt a dismal suspicion that this was going to daunt her.
The dismal Hecate did not much like the idea of going abroad into the sunny world.
Farewell to the dismal, blood-red phantom of martial renown!
Once more he heard the dismal cry, and fancied it held a mocking note.
To the devil with this dismal darkness, wrapping itself about one with a chill!
Uncle, after making one more pause, blew a dismal wail and went on again.
These dismal shells, when they burst in the air, were like the fireworks at a fte.
Oh, the dismal moans in that dismal night in the midst of all that misery!