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.
[1913 Webster]
My mother's blood
Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister
Bounds in my father's --Shak.
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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.
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2. Unlucky; inauspicious; disastrous; injurious; evil; -- the
left being usually regarded as the unlucky side; as,
sinister influences.
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All the several ills that visit earth,
Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth. --B.
Jonson.
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3. Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity;
perverse; dishonest; corrupt; as, sinister aims.
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Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts. --Bacon.
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He scorns to undermine another's interest by any
sinister or inferior arts. --South.
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He read in their looks . . . sinister intentions
directed particularly toward himself. --Sir W.
Scott.
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4. Indicative of lurking evil or harm; boding covert danger;
as, a sinister countenance.
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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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
sinister
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, threatening,
ugly]
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]
3: on or starting from the wearer's left; "bar sinister"
WordNet (r) 2.0
163 Moby Thesaurus words for "sinister":
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
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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