I. ˈdizməl adjective
( often -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English, from dismal, n., set of 24 days (two in each month) identified as unlucky in medieval calendars, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin dies mali, literally, evil days, from Latin dies (plural of dies day) + mali (plural of malus evil, bad) — more at deity , small
1.
a. obsolete , of a day : unlucky , ill-omened , sinister
b. obsolete : bringing disaster or calamity : dreadful , ominous
2. : marked by, showing, or causing gloom, dejection, somberness, or depression of spirits : utterly wanting in anything cheering, gladdening, encouraging, or inspiring
tones so dismal as to make woe itself more insupportable — William Cowper
the dismal prison twilight — Charles Dickens
3. : marked by weakness, ineptness, sparseness, impoverishment, or dullness : lacking interest or merit
the tonal monotony, the dismal vocal ineffectiveness — E.T.Canby
Synonyms:
dreary , cheerless , dispiriting , bleak , desolate : dismal and dreary are often interchangeable. dismal may indicate extreme gloominess or somberness utterly depressing and dejecting
dismal acres of weed-filled cellars and gaping foundations — Felix Morley
rain dripped … with a dismal insistence — T.B.Costain
the most dismal prophets of calamity — J.W.Krutch
dreary may differ in indicating what discourages or enervates through sustained gloom, dullness, tiresomeness, or futility, and wants any cheering or enlivening characteristic
the most dreary solitary desert waste I had ever beheld — William Bartram
it was a hard dreary winter, and the old minister's heart was often heavy — Margaret Deland
had the strength been there, the equipment was lacking. Harding's dreary appreciation of this was part of his tragedy — S.H.Adams
cheerless stresses absence of anything cheering and is less explicit than but as forceful as the others in suggesting a pervasive disheartening joylessness or hopelessness
he would like to have done with life and its vanity altogether … so cheerless and dreary the prospect seemed to him — W.M.Thackeray
dispiriting refers to anything that disheartens or takes away morale or resolution of spirit
it was such dispiriting effort. To throw one's whole strength and weight on the oars, and to feel the boat checked in its forward lunge — Jack London
bleak is likely to suggest chill, dull, barren characteristics that dishearten and militate against any notions of cheer, shelter, warmth, comfort, brightness, or ease
the bleak upland, still famous as a sheepwalk, though a scant herbage scarce veils the whinstone rock — J.R.Green
the sawmill workers of the bleak mountain shack towns — American Guide Series: California
the bleak years of the depression — J.D.Hicks
desolate applies to that which disheartens by being utterly barren, lifeless, uninhabitable or abandoned, and remote from anything cheering, comforting, or pleasant
a semibarren, rather desolate region, whose long dry seasons stunted its vegetation — Tom Marvel
some desolate polar region of the mind, where woman, even as an ideal, could not hope to survive — Ellen Glasgow
II. noun
( -s )
1. dismals plural : low spirits : extreme dejection : blues — used with the
suffering from an attack of the dismals
2. South : swamp