What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Odious vs Dismal - What's the difference?

odious | dismal | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between odious and dismal

is that odious is arousing or meriting strong dislike, aversion, or intense displeasure while dismal is disappointingly inadequate.

odious

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Arousing or meriting strong dislike, aversion, or intense displeasure.
    • Scrubbing the toilet is an odious task.
  • *
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1818 , author=Mary Shelley , title=Frankenstein , chapter=6 citation , passage=He looks upon study as an odious fetter; his time is spent in the open air, climbing the hills or rowing on the lake.}}

    Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "odious" is often applied: debt, man, character, crime, task, comparison, woman, person, vice, word, act.

    Synonyms

    * detestable, hated, reviled, unsavory, contemptible, despicable

    Anagrams

    *

    dismal

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Disappointingly inadequate.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 22, author=Sam Sheringham, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Liverpool 0-1 West Brom , passage=Liverpool's efforts thereafter had an air of desperation as their dismal 2012 league form continued.}}
  • Gloomy and bleak.
  • Depressing.
  • *, chapter=12
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all. It looked like a tomb and smelt pretty nigh as musty and dead-and-gone.}}

    Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "dismal" is often applied: failure, performance, state, record, place, result, scene, season, year, economy, future, fate, weather, news, condition, history.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * dismal science