Dismal, a.
Etymology: [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. Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Obs.] An ugly fiend more foul than dismal day. Spenser.
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.