Usage of dismay and disappointment

[nobody]

Hi,

'To his disappointment, Gina never turned up at the party.'

Is it appropriate to use 'dismay' instead of 'disappointment' here? For example,
'To his dismay, Gina never turned up at the party.'

Do the two expressions mean the same and interchangeable?
If not, could you please explain what the difference is?

Thanks a lot.

[Alan]

Hi,

Both words give the idea that what happens is not what you hoped would happen but there is a difference in the feeling that you experience. Being disappointed suggests you are a bit unhappy at the outcome of something. You would possibly be disappointed if somebody you like forgets your birthday.

Being dismayed is a much stronger feeling. You are indeed upset/disappointed but also you are shocked and surprised at the outcome. You would be dismayed if you were told that a financial investment you made has failed and you have lost a lot of money.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Good Bye Summer

[nobody]

Hi Alan,

Thank you very much for your clear and great explanation.

[daemon99]

'Nobody' is thankful to Alan. That's bad

[Molly]

You can check out a few contextualised uses of the same, here: http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x.asp

to his dismay

1. Anthea's romance lasted ten years and marriage was talked about. But to his dismay, she left him and fell in love with Peter. They married two years
2. leaving him miles to walk back to any road. To add to his dismay, both his clothing and parachute were so clogged with peat and mud after an
3. took an ever-so sneaky glance at his watch at 4:00pm to find to his dismay that only 30 minutes of the one hour, 53 minute-long drone had passed.
4. as John Young, chairman of the National Hospital, discovered to his dismay. The Princess had become patron of the hospital, where her father made his
5. After an hour's careful work, the designer found (to his dismay) that one brand of lacquer caused all the lettering to lift off and float
6. figure appeared on the far shore. Her brother rowed across and to his dismay saw that the man was wearing convict's clothes. He rowed him back however
7. to make of this unexpected turn of events what she could. To his dismay, she wept and only then did he hear of the plan with which she
8. even for one day, was a kind of purgatory. To his dismay his weight problem was causing him to become increasingly short of breath and he would
9. or twice she seemed to look about her nervously. Then, to his dismay, he heard her suddenly call out, "We must go home, Celia
10. so far. While Grant was wakening the kids, he discovered to his dismay that most of the cubicles held four occupants, sleeping in bunk beds.

...........................................

to his disappointment

1. promotion, this time to the elite of the 1st Division but, to his disappointment and the chagrin of all Palace followers, he was never able to turn out
2. von Keller with an axe behind a barn at Quatre Bras; to his disappointment it contained only dishes and toilet articles, not the gold coins he had expected
3. out in a moment. He hurried out into the garden but to his disappointment he couldn't see a pear tree anywhere let alone one with a partridge in it
4. in the Sword of the Spirit, a proto-ecumenical movement which, to his disappointment, proved to be too visionary for the Roman authorities of the time. After
5. in bed. "Some post for you, Gina." To his disappointment Gina never opened any of her mail in front of him. She never brought back her
6. smudginess of the pastels had helped him cover up early errors. To his disappointment Sheila didn't praise him. She saved all her encouragement for a septuagenarian who
7. he did not bring up Liza's name. Neither, to his disappointment, did the blunt and usually outspoken Eleanor who had guessed, correctly, that
8. Lucien again sought out the roof garden of the Anywhither residence. To his disappointment, Bessie and Edgebone were already sitting there enjoying the night air. An enormous
9. standing stripped for a gallop, but without Fagan, much to his disappointment, at her head. " Oh good, you're here, " Dada
10. his arms, shouting "aye, aye, sir!" To his disappointment his old guv'nor took no notice at all, but, when the war was over

[nobody]

Hi Molly,

Thank you very much for your information above.