dismal /ˈdɪzm(ə)l/
adjective
Meaning:
1. causing a mood of gloom or depression.
"The dismal weather made the late afternoon seem like evening."
Synonyms:
dingy, dim, dark, gloomy, sombre, dreary, drab, dull, desolate, bleak, cheerless, comfortless, depressing, grim, funereal, inhospitable, uninviting, unwelcoming
antonyms: bright, cheerful
2. (of a person or their mood) gloomy.
"Her dismal mood was not dispelled by finding the house empty."
Synonyms:
gloomy, glum, mournful, melancholy, morose, doleful, woeful, woebegone, forlorn, abject, dejected, depressed, dispirited, downcast, crestfallen, despondent, disconsolate, miserable, sad, unhappy, sorrowful, sorrowing, desolate, wretched, lugubrious
antonyms:cheerful
3. (informal) pitifully or disgracefully bad.
"He shuddered as he watched his team's dismal performance."
Synonyms:
bad, poor, dreadful, awful, terrible, pitiful, disgraceful, lamentable, deplorable
antonyms: excellent
Antonyms:
bright, brilliant, clear, crystalline, dazzling, gleaming, glowing, illumined, light, lucid, luminous, radiant, shining, transparent, white
Origin
late Middle English: from earlier dismal (noun), denoting the two days in each month which in medieval times were believed to be unlucky, from Anglo-Norman French dis mal, from medieval Latin dies mali ‘evil days’.
