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sinister Definition

sin·is·ter (sin′is tər)

adjective

    1. Archaic on, to, or toward the left-hand side; left
    2. Heraldry on the left side of a shield (the right as seen by the viewer)
  2. threatening harm, evil, or misfortune; ominous; portentous sinister storm clouds
  3. wicked, evil, or dishonest, esp. in some dark, mysterious way a sinister plot
  4. most unfavorable or unfortunate; disastrous met a sinister fate

Etymology: ME sinistre < L sinister, left-hand, or unlucky (side), orig. lucky (side) < IE base *sene-, to prepare, achieve > Sans sánīyān, more favorable: early Roman augurs faced south, with the east (lucky side) to the left, but the Greeks (followed by later Romans) faced north

sinister Related Forms
sin′·is·terly adverb sin′·is·ter·ness noun
sinister Synonyms

sinister

modif.

evil, bad, corrupt, perverse, dishonest, inauspicious, menacing, foreboding, threatening, ominous, disastrous, malign, malignant, hurtful, harmful, injurious, baneful, baleful, obnoxious, dire, woeful, disastrous, pernicious, mischievous, deleterious, poisonous, adverse, unlucky, unfortunate, unfavorable, unpropitious; see also wicked 1, 2.

Antonyms fortunate*, lucky*, opportune.

sinister applies to that which can be interpreted as presaging imminent danger or evil a sinister smile; baleful refers to that which is menacing to the degree of being deadly, destructive, pernicious, etc. a baleful influence; malign is applied to that which is regarded as having an inherent tendency toward evil or destruction a malign doctrine

sinister Usage Examples

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • have: She is sure Garry Ryan ( Nicholas Ball ) had something sinister to do with it - but how can she prove it?
  • reveal: However, hospital tests revealed something much more sinister.

Modifies a noun

  • undertone: Today, brand names like Nike or Gap carry sinister undertones.
  • overtone: The man in the moon was sometimes associated with Judas or Cain, adding to the sinister overtones of this portrait.
  • motive: Here he is visibly wishing to unmask sinister motives.
  • connotation: The history of the authority shows it to be incapable of policing cloning, which could have sinister connotations " .
  • conspiracy: Some unionists alleged it was all part of a sinister conspiracy under which the British would withdraw from Northern Ireland.
  • undercurrent: But, what then seemed to be a nearly perfect life had a more sinister undercurrent.

Modifying Another Word

  • faintly: Personally, I always found the TV series faintly sinister, like Dr. Who with straw.
  • vaguely: An epic, extravagant - and perhaps vaguely sinister - turning point in the genre.
  • slightly: Everything combines to provide a song with a slightly sinister feel to it, helped by the lyrics.
  • suitably: Since then, they have been hatching a suitably sinister plot to ensure they don't see a recurrence of the civil uprising.
  • somewhat: Emerging from a dark, firey ground, their lips laden with deathly black paint, they assume a somewhat sinister air.
  • rather: A picture of the rather sinister looking marchers is included.

Used with adjective complement

  • seem: They do not laugh so much and seem more sinister.
  • sound: You merely think by associating it with ' Roman Catholicism or whatever ' you will make it sound sinister.
  • look: To make himself look more sinister, he even grew a goatee beard ( even made me scared of him!
  • turn: This is when the whole sordid episode turns sinister.
  • become: And with the case becoming ever more sinister, she knows she needs to find answers quickly.
  • feel: They happened to be standing in a place that felt sinister, claustrophobic, and not forgetting, chilly.
sinister Quotes

The Minister said it wald dee, the cypress-buss I plantit. But the buss grew til a tree, naething dauntit. It's growan, stark and heich, derk and straucht and sinister, kirkyairdielike and dreich. But whaur's the Minister?

—Young, Douglas

We do not like the confiding, the intimate, the ingratiating, the hail-fellow-well-met, but prefer the unapproachable, the hard-bitten, the recalcitrant, the sinister, the malignant, the saturnine, the cross-grained and the cankered, and the howling wilderness to the amenities of civilization, the irascible to the affable, the prickly to the smooth.We have no damned fellow- feeling at all.

—Grieve

Browse dictionary entries near sinister

  1. ‹ Sining
  2. ‹ Sinicism
  3. ‹ Sinhalese
  4. ‹ Sinhala
  5. ‹ singularly
  6. ‹ singularize
  7. ‹ singularity
  8. ‹ singular
  9. ‹ singspiel
  10. ‹ singsong
  1. sinistral ›
  2. sinistro- ›
  3. sinistrodextral ›
  4. sinistrorse ›
  5. sinistrous ›
  6. Sinitic ›
  7. sink ›
  8. sink in ›
  9. sinkage ›
  10. sinker ›