dismal

Etymology

From Middle English dismal, dismale, from Anglo-Norman dismal, from Old French (li) dis mals (“(the) bad days”), from Medieval Latin diēs malī (“bad days”).

adj

1. Disastrous, calamitous
2. Disappointingly inadequate.
   He received a dismal compensation.
   Liverpool's efforts thereafter had an air of desperation as their dismal 2012 league form continued. April 22, 2012, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport
3. Causing despair; gloomy and bleak.
   The storm made for a dismal weekend
4. Depressing, dreary, cheerless.
   She was lost in dismal thoughts of despair
   So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all. It looked like a tomb and smelt pretty nigh as musty and dead-and-gone. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 12, in Mr. Pratt's Patients