What's the difference between dismal and sombre?

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.

Sombre


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To make somber, or dark; to make shady.
  • (a.) Dull; dusky; somewhat dark; gloomy; as, a somber forest; a somber house.
  • (a.) Melancholy; sad; grave; depressing; as, a somber person; somber reflections.
  • (n.) Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Photograph: KHIZR KHAN This sombre, serene oasis overlooking the Potomac river might also prove the graveyard of Donald Trump’s ambitions for the US presidency.
  • (2) Seethetree Kingley Vale, Sussex Forget the colours of autumn; this place is sombre in colour and atmosphere but you will be walking among probably the oldest living organisms in Britain.
  • (3) Slowing growth, financial fragility, governments teetering on the brink of insolvency and default, and clear signs of a public backlash against the excesses of the rich and powerful: all have created a sombre backdrop to the invitation-only affair.
  • (4) King gave a sombre assessment of the government's challenge at a press conference to launch the Bank's quarterly inflation report.
  • (5) Top floor: a roomful of sombre youths vying for individual supremacy using some form of networked arcade strategy game that uses collectible cards.
  • (6) In sombre tones he did indeed acknowledge that there are no sunny uplands as we "now face a crisis that is the economic equivalent of war" .
  • (7) In March 1990, in a ceremony in the new Congress building built by Pinochet in his home town of Valparaiso - 80 miles from the capital, Santiago, and intended to remain well out of mind of the real centres of power - a sombre Pinochet handed the presidential sash over to Aylwin.
  • (8) Q has upped his gadget game Facebook Twitter Pinterest The brooding and sombre Skyfall scored a few points for post-modern playfulness via its introductory scene for the new Q, in which Ben Whishaw might as well have offered Bond a couple of Netflix vouchers and a year’s subscription to Cosmopolitan for all the wow factor his proffered “gadgets” achieved.
  • (9) Another report, Sir Derek Wanless's Securing Good Health for the Whole Population (2004), set out the sombre consequences of our slobby habits: life expectancy cut by nine years, increased coronary heart disease and diabetes, and a cost of £8.2bn to the economy.
  • (10) She’s very serious in her style, very well-informed in her style, it won’t be the same as David Cameron,” he said, welcoming the idea of a more sombre tone.
  • (11) In a sombre closing speech, Clegg warned of "a long hard road ahead", and said the economy was "our biggest concern" because "the recovery is fragile".
  • (12) A grand and sombre staircase - dark, looming, pitiless - leads up from the Axes to the exhibits, allowing Libeskind to play one last trick on the visitor by luring him up a final flight that goes nowhere, before his voice gives way to the memoranda of Jewish history.
  • (13) It is now recognized that as much as left ventricular dysfunction these ventricular arrhythmias are of sombre prognosis.
  • (14) South Africans have undergone sombre introspection of late with the economy slowing, unemployment sky highand, worst of all, violent unrest that included the killing of workers at the Lonmin platinum mine in August.
  • (15) Helen Hunt and John Hawkes are deservedly recognised for their fine performances in The Sessions, while Kathryn Bigelow 's sombre, gripping Zero Dark Thirty bags a quartet of nominations, burnishing its credentials as the dark horse of this year's Oscar race.
  • (16) There were reports this morning that Gaga was reluctant to perform after the death of Alexander McQueen last week and had told organisers she would only play a set that was suitably sombre (with images of McQueen projected as a backdrop apparently).
  • (17) In a sombre letter to his youngest child, Mohamed wrote: "Sorry because you were born where free people are behind bars, including your father."
  • (18) Although they may draw images of sombre and disciplined technicians in white coats, labs in the modern industrial context are a nebulous idea.
  • (19) Although relatively rare, stenosis must be diagnosed in view of its sombre spontaneous prognosis (one patient died 3 days after coronary arteriography), of the risk of underestimating its frequency, and of the hazards of selective coronary catheterization in such patients (one of our patients died 15 minutes after coronary exploration).
  • (20) In a sombre ceremony, the eight men were remembered and honoured by name as families and relatives paid their last respects.