Origin: Latin
suffix -al
Dismal has 2 different meanings across 1 category:
Adjective
Adjective
1
causing dejection
"a blue day"
"the dark days of the war"
"a week of rainy depressing weather"
"a disconsolate winter landscape"
"the first dismal dispiriting days of November"
"a dark gloomy day"
"grim rainy weather"
2
Disastrous, calamitous
"The dismal harvest left the entire village facing starvation after months of relentless storms destroyed every crop."
Example Sentences
"a blue day"
adjective
"the dark days of the war"
adjective
"a week of rainy depressing weather"
adjective
"a disconsolate winter landscape"
adjective
"the first dismal dispiriting days of November"
adjective
"a dark gloomy day"
adjective
"grim rainy weather"
adjective
Related Terms
Show all 28 terms ↓
Origin
The word "dismal" comes from the phrase "bad days" in Old French and Medieval Latin. It entered English through Anglo-Norman to describe something gloomy or depressing.