dismal
/ˈdɪzməl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.26 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
noun
A dreary swamp in eastern North Carolina or Virginia in the United States.
American usage; Dated
Example Sentences
- "He received a dismal compensation."
- "Liverpool's efforts thereafter had an air of desperation as their dismal 2012 league form continued."
- "The storm made for a dismal weekend"
- "She was lost in dismal thoughts of despair"
- "So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all. It looked like a tomb and smelt pretty nigh as musty and dead-and-gone."
- ".[…] the proprietors of all the great unimproved tracts of Swamp lands will form themselves into Drainage Companies, by which method alone can we ever hope to witness the complete reclamation of the dismals of the seaboard. No reasonable doubt can be entertained that the clearing and draining of the lands will produce their usual effects in ameliorating the climate and that the tidal portions of No. Caro- lina may thus[…]"
Etymology
From Middle English dismal, dismale, from Anglo-Norman dismal, from Old French (li) dis mals (“(the) bad days”), from Medieval Latin diēs malī (“bad days”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
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Frequently Paired Words
the dismals