dismal
\ˈdɪz.məl\
The verdict
“dismal” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Lugubre, maussade.
Corpus desk
Index FR-dismal · dismal · French
dismal · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dismal |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \ˈdɪz.məl\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « dismal » en français
Rare enough to double-check
dismal is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ˈdɪz.məl\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for dismal, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is dismal, spelled D-I-S-M-A-L.
Definition
- 1Lugubre, maussade.
- 2Lamentable.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dismal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Dismal weather.
Dismal mood.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.