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View synonyms for sinister

sinister

[ sin-uh-ster ]

adjective

  1. threatening or portending evil, harm, or trouble; ominous:

    a sinister remark.

    Synonyms: portentous, inauspicious

    Antonyms: benign

  2. bad, evil, base, or wicked; fell:

    his sinister purposes.

  3. unfortunate; disastrous; unfavorable:

    a sinister accident.

    Synonyms: unlucky

    Antonyms: favorable

  4. of or on the left side; left.
  5. Heraldry. noting the side of an escutcheon or achievement of arms that is to the left of the bearer ( dexter ).


sinister

/ ˈsɪnɪstə /

adjective

  1. threatening or suggesting evil or harm; ominous

    a sinister glance

  2. evil or treacherous, esp in a mysterious way
  3. usually postpositive heraldry of, on, or starting from the left side from the bearer's point of view and therefore on the spectator's right
  4. archaic.
    located on the left side
  5. archaic.
    (of signs, omens, etc) unfavourable


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Derived Forms

  • ˈsinisterly, adverb
  • ˈsinisterness, noun

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Other Words From

  • sinis·ter·ly adverb
  • sinis·ter·ness noun
  • un·sinis·ter adjective
  • un·sinis·ter·ly adverb
  • un·sinis·ter·ness noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of sinister1

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin: “on the left hand or side,” hence, “unfavorable, injurious”

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Word History and Origins

Origin of sinister1

C15: from Latin sinister on the left-hand side, considered by Roman augurs to be the unlucky one

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Example Sentences

We’ve seen the pandemic, the campaign and now, as you and I speak in the aftermath of the election, we’ve seen very clearly how the sinister role of propaganda has affected our national discourse.

The game’s biggest draw was a storyline which unfolded over multiple play sessions, with diseases mutating and cities falling into chaos as a sinister conspiracy spread its tendrils across the world.

Some characters buy the gadgets out of simple curiosity or a desire for companionship, while others use the technology for more sinister ends.

Then, when the host plant flowers, so does the dodder, setting the stage for the sinister cycle to begin again.

There are plenty of reasons why duopolies exist, and they’re not necessarily all sinister.

Some have innocuous-seeming URLs like cardpool.com or giftcardgranny.com, which cloak the sinister operations.

“i wanted to talk to him about sinister and jobs,” wrote Pascal.

The Kremlin likes to portray these as sinister Western conspiracies.

A raft of thrillers, sci-fi movies, and sinister dramas followed.

As sinister and well-resourced as it is, it may be the weakest link in the chain.

Nevertheless, this world of mankind to-day seems to me to be a very sinister and dreadful world.

These are obtained easily, whence follow the sinister reports that they give your Majesty, to the harm of the public welfare.

A chill, sinister feeling crept over me, but I kept my gaze fixed steadily in the same direction.

Then he turned suddenly, and Harris saw that his face had turned most oddly and disagreeably sinister.

The countenances round him turned sinister, but not idly, negatively sinister: they grew dark with purpose.

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Siningsinistral