dismal failure• It was a dismal failure. 1926-27 found him hawking a play round London offices with no potentialtakers.• Mitchell called the policy a dismal failure.• Jimmy Johnstone's life after football has been a catalogue of defeats and dismal failures.• This debate will no doubt continue, and clearly no project is either a completesuccess or a dismal failure.• It was a dismal failure, and was followed by restrictivelegislation against the unions and by victimization of many unionactivists.• They are especially dismal failures in this regard because in fact they support these prejudices.