英['dɪzməl]美['dɪzməl]
记忆方法
词源记忆法
在古埃及的历书中，每月有两天为不吉利的日子，不宜处理任何事务。这些不吉利的日子因为是埃及占星家首先测定的，所以被称为Egyptian days。这种迷信在中世纪传入罗马，后来又传遍整个欧洲。拉丁文用dies mali来表示。dies=days，mali=bad，所以dies mali就是bad days（坏日子）的意思。该词演变为法语的dis mals，进入英语后拼写为dismal，去掉了表示复数的s，词性也从名词变成了形容词，表示“不吉利的”。16世纪以后词义也发生了变化，先是由“不吉利的”变为“灾难性的”，以后又逐渐弱化为我们至今还在使用的“阴沉的”、“优郁的”等义。
adjective(形容词)
双解例句
adjective(形容词)
小知识
Dismal is a dreary, depressing sort of bad. “With the cold rain and their team behind by six field goals, the mood in the stands was so dismal even the cheerleaders had lost their 'Rah.'”
Dismal comes from the Latin dies mali which means “bad days.” There is a hopelessness implied in the word. If you fell on the way to school and cut your knee, it would be bad, but not dismal. If you fell into a giant mud puddle and had to wear dirty, crusty clothes until you got home, it might make the school day seem pretty dismal.