Adjacent Words

Sinister definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SIN'ISTER, a. [L. Probably the primary sense is weak, defective.]
1. Left; on the left hand, or the side of the left hand; opposed to dexter or right; as the sinister cheek; or the sinister side of an escutcheon.
2. Evil; bad; corrupt; perverse; dishonest; as sinister means; sinister purpose. He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts.
3. Unlucky; inauspicious.
4. Sinister aspect, in astrology, an appearance of two planets happening according to the succession of the signs; as Saturn in Aries, and Mars in the same degree of Gemini.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments; "a baleful look"; "forbidding thunderclouds"; "his tone became menacing"; "ominous rumblings of discontent"; "sinister storm clouds"; "a sinister smile"; "his threatening behavior"; "ugly black clouds"; "the situation became ugly" [syn: baleful, forbidding, menacing, minacious, minatory, ominous, sinister, threatening]
2: stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable; "black deeds"; "a black lie"; "his black heart has concocted yet another black deed"; "Darth Vader of the dark side"; "a dark purpose"; "dark undercurrents of ethnic hostility"; "the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him"-Thomas Hardy [syn: black, dark, sinister]
3: on or starting from the wearer's left; "bar sinister"

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English sinistre, from Anglo-French senestre on the left, from Latin sinistr-, sinister on the left side, unlucky, inauspicious Date: 15th century 1. archaic unfavorable, unlucky 2. archaic fraudulent 3. singularly evil or productive of evil 4. a. of, relating to, or situated to the left or on the left side of something; especially being or relating to the side of a heraldic shield at the left of the person bearing it b. of ill omen by reason of being on the left 5. presaging ill fortune or trouble 6. accompanied by or leading to disaster • sinisterly adverb • sinisterness noun Synonyms: sinister, baleful, malign mean seriously threatening evil or disaster. sinister suggests a general or vague feeling of fear or apprehension on the part of the observer <a sinister aura haunts the place>. baleful imputes perniciousness or destructiveness to something whether working openly or covertly <exerting a corrupt and baleful influence>. malign applies to what is inherently evil or harmful <the malign effects of racism>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 suggestive of evil; looking malignant or villainous. 2 wicked or criminal (a sinister motive). 3 of evil omen. 4 Heraldry of or on the left-hand side of a shield etc. (i.e. to the observer's right). 5 archaic left-hand. Derivatives: sinisterly adv. sinisterness n. Etymology: ME f. OF sinistre or L sinister left

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sinister Sin"is*ter (s[i^]n"[i^]s*t[~e]r; 277), a. Note: [Accented on the middle syllable by the older poets, as Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden.] [L. sinister: cf. F. sinistre.] 1. On the left hand, or the side of the left hand; left; -- opposed to dexter, or right. ``Here on his sinister cheek.'' --Shak. My mother's blood Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister Bounds in my father's --Shak. Note: In heraldy the sinister side of an escutcheon is the side which would be on the left of the bearer of the shield, and opposite the right hand of the beholder. 2. Unlucky; inauspicious; disastrous; injurious; evil; -- the left being usually regarded as the unlucky side; as, sinister influences. All the several ills that visit earth, Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth. --B. Jonson. 3. Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest; corrupt; as, sinister aims. Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts. --Bacon. He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts. --South. He read in their looks . . . sinister intentions directed particularly toward himself. --Sir W. Scott. 4. Indicative of lurking evil or harm; boding covert danger; as, a sinister countenance. Bar sinister. (Her.) See under Bar, n. Sinister aspect (Astrol.), an appearance of two planets happening according to the succession of the signs, as Saturn in Aries, and Mars in the same degree of Gemini. Sinister base, Sinister chief. See under Escutcheon.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Something that is sinister seems evil or harmful. There was something sinister about him that she found disturbing. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Left, on the left hand. 2. Unlucky, inauspicious, unfortunate, untoward, disastrous, injurious. 3. Wrong, bad, evil, perverse, corrupt, wicked, sinful, criminal, dishonest.

Moby Thesaurus

adverse, amoral, antagonistic, apocalyptic, backhand, backhanded, bad, baleful, baneful, base, black, bodeful, boding, circuitous, conflicting, conscienceless, contrary, corrupt, corrupted, counter, counteractive, counterclockwise, criminal, crooked, dark, deflectional, detrimental, deviant, deviative, devious, diabolical, difficult, digressive, dire, disastrous, dishonest, dishonorable, divagational, divergent, doomful, doubtful, dreary, dubious, evasive, evil, evil-starred, excursive, fateful, felonious, fishy, foreboding, fraudulent, furtive, gloomy, hard, harmful, hostile, ill, ill-boding, ill-fated, ill-got, ill-gotten, ill-omened, ill-starred, immoral, improper, in opposition, inaccurate, inauspicious, indirect, inexpedient, inferior, inimical, insidious, invalid, larboard, left, left-hand, left-handed, left-wing, left-wingish, levorotatory, liberal, lowering, malefic, maleficent, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, menacing, minacious, minatory, miserable, near, nefarious, nigh, not easy, not kosher, oblique, of evil portent, ominous, opposed, opposing, opposite, peccant, pernicious, port, portending, portentous, questionable, radical, rigorous, rotten, shady, shameless, shifty, side, sidelong, sinful, sinistral, sinistrocerebral, sinistrocular, sinistrogyrate, sinistrorse, slippery, sneaky, somber, stressful, suspicious, threatening, treacherous, tricky, troublesome, troublous, trying, unconscienced, unconscientious, unconscionable, underhand, underhanded, unethical, unfavorable, unfortunate, unhealthy, unkind, unlucky, unpleasant, unprincipled, unpromising, unpropitious, unsavory, unscrupulous, unskillful, unstraightforward, untoward, vicious, villainous, wicked, without remorse, without shame, wretched, wrong