HOW TO PRONOUNCE
dismal
/ˈdɪzməl/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:03
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What does dismal mean?
adjective
- Disastrous, calamitous.
- Disappointingly inadequate.
- Causing despair; gloomy and bleak.
More meanings (2)
adjective
- Depressing, dreary, cheerless.
noun
- (dated) A dreary swamp in eastern North Carolina or Virginia in the United States.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈdɪzməl/
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
There were fewer houses and fewer fruit trees, and the farther they went the more dismal and lonesome the country became.
“Rather you than I,” said she, looking up to the heavens, which had assumed a very dismal, not to say awful, appearance.
More book examples (3)
I am awakened out of my sleep by a dismal shriek from my wife, who demands to know whether there’s any danger.
It is a sort of steady, persistent, overwhelming, endlessly driving downpour, which makes your heart sick, and opens it to dismal forebodings.
Still, in the dismal fog I felt myself drifting into loneliness, an insect on a straw in the midst of the elements.