Synonyms for dismal
ˈdɪz məldis·mal

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. dismal

   Strictly, that which is black is absolutely destitute of color; that which is dark is absolutely destitute of light. In common speech, however, a coat is black, tho not optically colorless; the night is dark, tho the stars shine. That is obscure, shadowy, or shady from which the light is more or less cut off. Dusky is applied to objects which appear as if viewed in fading light; the word is often used, as are swart and swarthy, of the human skin when quite dark, or even verging toward black. Dim refers to imperfection of outline, from distance, darkness, mist, etc., or from some defect of vision. Opaque objects, as smoked glass, are impervious to light. Murky is said of that which is at once dark, obscure, and gloomy; as, a murky den; a murky sky. Figuratively, dark is emblematic of sadness, agreeing with somber, dismal, gloomy, also of moral evil; as, a dark deed. Of intellectual matters, dark is now rarely used in the old sense of a dark saying, etc. See MYSTERIOUS; OBSCURE.

   Compare synonyms for LIGHT.

   Synonyms:
   black, dark, dim, dusky, gloomy, murky, mysterious, obscure, opaque, sable, shadowy, shady, somber, swart, swarthy

   Antonyms:
   bright, brilliant, clear, crystalline, dazzling, gleaming, glowing, illumined, light, lucid, luminous, radiant, shining, transparent, white

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:3.5 / 2 votes

1. dismal

   Antonyms:
   gay, propitious, promising, cheerful, lively, elated, joyous, laughable, ridiculous, comic

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:4.3 / 3 votes

1. blue, dark, dingy, disconsolate, dismal, gloomy, grim, sorry, drab, drear, drearyadjective

   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"

   Synonyms:
   black, blueish, non-white, gloomful, stern, unappeasable, ghastly, moody, forbidding, relentless, dingy, raunchy, bluish, mordant, sorry, risque, gruesome, depressed, dirty, gamey, down in the mouth, low, sinister, olive-drab, lamentable, muddied, unrelenting, sullen, juicy, sulky, bad, gloomy, meritless, low-spirited, saturnine, good-for-naught, dispirited, gamy, down(p), grisly, good-for-nothing, dark, naughty, unconsolable, benighted, sad, muddy, sober, gentle, grubby, grungy, dark-skinned, aristocratic, inconsolable, racy, regretful, somber, spicy, blue-blooded, blue, puritanical, no-count, drear, macabre, disconsolate, no-account, dreary, grimy, coloured, inexorable, puritanic, aristocratical, no-good, deplorable, glowering, morose, pitiful, patrician, profane, blasphemous, sombre, drab, glum, unforgiving, glooming, sour, blue(a), downcast, downhearted, distressing, dour, obscure, sick, grim, begrimed

   Antonyms:
   cheerful

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. dismaladjective

   Synonyms:
   cheerless, gloomy, dark, dull, dreary, lonesome

2. dismaladjective

   Synonyms:
   melancholy, mournful, sad, doleful, dolorous, sombre, lugubrious, funereal

3. dismaladjective

   Synonyms:
   horrid, horrible, terrible, dire, frightful

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. dismaladjective

   Synonyms:
   dreary, gloomy, cheerless, joyless, sombre

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "dismal":

   bleak, depressing, gloomy, grim, sad, sombre, regrettable, somber, dreary, dark, unfortunate

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How to use dismal in a sentence?

1. Michelle Krebs:

   When you look back to where we were in March and how dismal things looked, it's incredible how strong the year ended.

2. Mike Strobel:

   It's looking pretty dismal over much of the West, but there are some areas where we're OK.

3. Kathleen Brooks:

   With the EU referendum on a knife-edge, the market is right to look elsewhere for direction. Some of this came from Yellen, who reinforced (the) message that the Fed will slow the pace of rate hikes if the U.S. economy posts another dismal jobs report for June.

4. Delara Derakhshani:

   One of the biggest questions about Charter and Time Warner Cable is whether the deal is in the public interest. Frankly, we're skeptical, prices for cable and broadband continue to go up, and customer service is dismal.

5. Henry Van Dyke:

   Half of the secular unrest and dismal, profane sadness of modern society comes from the vain ideas that every man is bound to be a critic for life.