Charles Dickens
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The Evil History of Dismal
In late antiquity, certain days each month, called “Egyptian days,” were regarded as inauspicious, probably as a relic of ancient Egyptian belief. By the Middle Ages, people took them to be anniversaries of the Biblical plagues in Egypt. There were 24 such days per year, and in Anglo-French they were called collectively dismal (from Latin dies mali, “evil days”), and this word was borrowed into Middle English. In time the “evil days” sense was forgotten and dismal was simply taken to mean “disastrous.” The noun dismal, meaning “swamp,” goes back to the 1700s when the marshy region in Virginia and North Carolina was named the Great Dismal Swamp.
Examples of dismal in a Sentence
Steve Madeley, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
Jordyn Brooks has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal 2-7 start for the Miami Dolphins.
—Andre Fernandez, Miami Herald, 31 Oct. 2025
One, with his performances during the Sharks’ four-game road trip, Celebrini had breathed new life into the team’s season after a dismal start.
—Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 27 Oct. 2025
Meanwhile, Trudeau − who resigned as Canadian prime minister earlier this year amid a dismal election forecast − split from his wife Sophie Grégoire in 2023.
—Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 26 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Dismal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dismal. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Middle English dismal "days marked on a calendar as unlucky," from early French (same meaning), from Latin dies mali, "evil days"
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