DISMAL

dismal. Dismal, a. terrible, dark, gloomy, sorrowful

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Dis″mal (?), a. [[Formerly a noun; e. g., “I trow it was in the dismalle.” Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phrase dismal day properly meaning, the day when tithes must be paid. See Dime.]] 1. 1. Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky.
An ugly fiend more foul than dismal day. Spenser. 2. 2. Gloomy to the eye or ear; sorrowful and depressing to the feelings; foreboding; cheerless; dull; dreary; as, a dismal outlook; dismal stories; a dismal place.
Full well the busy whisper, circling round, Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frowned. Goldsmith. A dismal description of an English November. Southey. Syn. — Dreary; lonesome; gloomy; dark; ominous; ill-boding; fatal; doleful; lugubrious; funereal; dolorous; calamitous; sorrowful; sad; joyless; melancholy; unfortunate; unhappy.