2 uses
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Definition
of terrible quality or depressing; or dark and dreary (as when bad weather blocks the sun or when it is drizzly)
- The sight is dismal; And our affairs from England come too late: The ears are senseless that should give us hearing, To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead: Where should we have our thanks?5.2 — Act 5 Scene 2 — A hall in the Castle (91% in)
- ...it is not so:— it begins with Pyrrhus:— 'The rugged Pyrrhus,—he whose sable arms, Black as his purpose, did the night resemble When he lay couched in the ominous horse,— Hath now this dread and black complexion smear'd With heraldry more dismal; head to foot Now is he total gules; horridly trick'd With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, Bak'd and impasted with the parching streets, That lend a tyrannous and a damned light To their vile murders: roasted in wrath and fire,...2.2 — Act 2 Scene 2 — A room in the Castle (76% in)
There are no more uses of "dismal" in Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
Typical Usage
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