Definitions of dismally:

  • adverb:   in a dreadful manner
    Example: "As he looks at the mess he has left behind he must wonder how the Brits so often managed to succeed in the kind of situation where he has so dismally failed"
  • adverb:   in a cheerless manner
    Example: "In August 1914 , there was a dismally sentimental little dinner, when the French, German, Austrian and Belgian members of the committee drank together to the peace of the future"