What's the difference between dire and dismal?

Dire


Definition:

  • (superl.) Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens.
  • (superl.) Evil in great degree; dreadful; dismal; horrible; terrible; lamentable.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Why is it so surprising to people that a boy like Chol, just out of conflict, has thought through the needs of his country in such a detailed way?” While Beah’s zeal is laudable, the situation in South Sudan is dire .
  • (2) It is that beautiful moment when the original Metamorphosis is destroyed so that it can be refashioned for a global community of readers in dire need of new forms of storytelling.
  • (3) In this investigation, reanalysis of responses to case vignettes obtained from 436 psychologists, psychiatrists, and internists revealed that on the issue of confidentiality management, these health care providers discriminate among cases involving: Premeditated harm to others, socially irresponsible acts with possible dire consequences to self or others, and minor theft.
  • (4) The report’s concluding chapters raised dire warning that the operations of contemporary child protection agencies were replicating many of the destructive dynamics of the Stolen Generations era.
  • (5) Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, warned Barack Obama in public remarks this month that history had shown “sacrificing our right to privacy can have dire consequences”.
  • (6) Algeria had not scored a World Cup goal since they drew 1-1 with Northern Ireland at Mexico 1986, a run that took in five matches, including that dire 0-0 draw with England in Cape Town four years ago.
  • (7) Professor Lord Stern of the London School of Economics, the author of the influential Stern Report into the economics of climate change for the Treasury in 2006, warned that if the pattern continued, the results would be dire.
  • (8) High among the range of issues was the media dominance of the Globo group (whose journalists were chased away from demonstrations by an irate mob), inefficient use of public funds, forced relocations linked to Olympic real estate developments, the treatment of indigenous groups, dire inequality and excessive use of force by police in favela communities.
  • (9) Burrows had resigned as governor of Bank of Ireland, leaving the lender in dire straits, with big losses and mounting debt threatening its very survival.
  • (10) Yet the inability to get on in life is a now a major and growing problem for middle-class children and this group is in dire need of attention, it is expected to report.
  • (11) Vince Cable, their shadow chancellor, said: "The Liberal Democrats welcome the government's recognition that radical action is now needed, reflecting the dire and deteriorating position of the UK economy.
  • (12) Its willingness to ignore diplomatic convention and use its Kuala Lumpur embassy to conduct an extraterritorial assassination will be seen as setting a dire precedent that cannot be allowed to stand.
  • (13) What is clear, however, is that the reported escalation in fighting exacerbates the already dire humanitarian and human rights situation and the suffering of the Yemeni people,” said Ban’s spokesman, Farhan Haq.
  • (14) In a scene of young soldiers at rest for a few minutes at the front, he takes us into their heads: one full of dire forebodings, another singing, one trying to identify a bird on a tree – soldiers dreaming of girls’ breasts, dogs, sausages and poetry.
  • (15) Despite its own dire predictions on the potential impact of climate change , the government's impact assessment for Flood Re does not take account of " changing flood risk due to deterioration of existing flood defences [or] climate change".
  • (16) The situation is so dire the National Audit Office has warned that by 2020 schools will be worse funded than at any time since the mid-90s.
  • (17) John Macgregor, an aid worker who has been accompanying teams delivering food and water to Battambang, described the area as a vast inland sea where conditions are dire and malnutrition is common.
  • (18) But they are also the stuff of nightmares, because if an electricity grid is overwhelmed by demand, the consequences can be dire, as India discovered recently , when more than 700 million people were left without power.
  • (19) Thousands of jobs that would have been created will be lost and the knock-on effect will be so dire.
  • (20) While big businesses have enjoyed access to new couriers, Royal Mail itself eventually reached such a dire state that the Hooper report urged the government to rewrite the law to clarify that competition was a mixed blessing.

Dismal


Definition:

  • (a.) Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky.
  • (a.) Gloomy to the eye or ear; sorrowful and depressing to the feelings; foreboding; cheerless; dull; dreary; as, a dismal outlook; dismal stories; a dismal place.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Arsenal’s 10 men fall at the first hurdle against Dinamo Zagreb Read more This win, even against such feeble opponents, was celebrated, with the locals chorusing their manager’s name amid a wave of relief given so much of the team’s domestic campaign to date has been dismal.
  • (2) Massive pay packets are being used to lure foreign coaches and players from footballing nations such as Brazil in order to beautify the still dismal Chinese game.
  • (3) Trump and Hillary Clinton’s dismal honesty ratings, he says, show scrutiny is working.
  • (4) Chris Williamson, of data provider Markit, said: "A batch of dismal data and a gloomier assessment of the economic outlook has cast a further dark cloud over the UK's economic health, piling pressure on the government to review its fiscal policy and growth strategy.
  • (5) Referencing these dismal truths on the website Race Files , Soya Jung criticised Chua and Rubenfeld for "buying into exceptionalist arguments to explain disparities means endorsing a dehumanising system of racialised norms".
  • (6) We will have another financial shock – it’s inevitable.” Gary Greenwood, analyst at Shore Capital, described the results as “dismal” and noted the bank was ditching targets previously set to measure returns to shareholders.
  • (7) Henderson completed 77 minutes during a dismal goalless draw, secured on a semi-frozen pitch, to hand Klopp some welcome injury news following the England midfielder’s extended absence because of a heel problem.
  • (8) It might be doing even better if it had not been deliberately mischaracterised as a demand for a ban by typically dismal feminists, rather than an effort to persuade the Sun that a woman's bra size is not the most interesting fact about her.
  • (9) But it's a dismal prospect, for this is how our politics of hope continues to manifest itself – vote for us; we're the least worst.
  • (10) Some of these measures appeared to be lifted over the weekend, but as thousands trudged or bussed their way towards Austria and then Germany, the dismal scenes in Hungary will stain one administration’s human rights record – and perhaps the reputation of a nation.
  • (11) Griffiths replaced Nadir Ciftci for the start of the second half after a dismal first 45 minutes from the home side and Ronny Deila’s men continued to struggle, with Bitton sent off in the 67th minute after picking up his second yellow card.
  • (12) The UK's weather seems set on squandering one of its last chances to make amends for the largely dismal summer by threatening wind and rain for the event-packed bank holiday weekend.
  • (13) Following United's dismal 2-0 Champions League defeat at Oympiakos on Tuesday, Van Persie signalled his disquiet by complaining that his team-mates were taking up positions he wanted to occupy.
  • (14) Except for the palliative effect of irradiation, most treatment protocols have not altered the dismal median survival of approximately 11 months seen in untreated patients with malignant mesothelioma.
  • (15) They fought back and, in a rare uplifting moment in these dismal times, won.
  • (16) Primary pulmonary hypertension is a relatively rare disease with a poorly understood pathophysiology, limited therapeutic options, and a dismal prognosis.
  • (17) The pernicious nature of this tumor often leads to a dismal outcome despite aggressive therapy.
  • (18) Nonoperative treatment deserves re-evaluation in patients with all three risk factors because of their uniformly dismal outcome after operation.
  • (19) The third goal represented another dismal concession from Leicester’s point of view.
  • (20) The introduction of planned multidisciplinary treatment has improved the outlook for patients with this once dismal disease.

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