Dismal means gloomy, depressing, or utterly miserable. A dismal day might be gray, cold, and rainy, the kind of weather that makes you want to stay under the covers. A dismal performance on a test means you did poorly, maybe even worse than you expected.

The word carries a feeling of hopelessness or dreariness. A dismal room might be dark, cramped, and cheerless. A dismal failure is a complete disappointment, maybe even embarrassing. When your team loses 42 to 0, that's a dismal defeat.

Dismal often describes situations that feel both bad and bleak. If someone says the forecast for your weekend camping trip looks dismal, they mean not only will the weather be bad, but it will probably ruin your plans. A dismal mood means feeling deeply discouraged or dejected, sunk in unhappiness.

You might hear someone say business is dismal when sales are terrible, or that a movie received dismal reviews when critics really disliked it.