sinister Hear it!

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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

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:

medical sinister definition - medical

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


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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?

Modifies a noun

  • undertone: Today, brand names like Nike or Gap carry sinister undertones.

Modifying Another Word

  • faintly: Personally, I always found the TV series faintly sinister, like Dr. Who with straw.

Used with adjective complement

  • seem: They do not laugh so much and seem more sinister.
sinister usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

sinister quotes

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

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

sinister quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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MLA Style

"sinister." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/sinister>

APA Style

sinister. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 5th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/sinister

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