Sinister

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈsɪnɪstÉ™/
• US IPA: /ˈsɪnɪstÉ™r/
• Accented on the middle syllable by the older poets, such as Shakespeare, Milton, and Dryden.

Alternative forms

• sinistre obsolete

Origin

From Middle English sinistre ("unlucky"), from Old French sinistra ("left"), from Latin sinestra ("left hand").

Full definition of sinister

Adjective

1. Inauspicious, ominous, unlucky, illegitimate (as in bar sinister).
• Ben JonsonAll the several ills that visit earth,
  Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth.
• 1922, w, “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days Chapter 1/5/1, And in the meanwhile, Society shivered a little feverishly, filled now with the scions of those who had come over with the Jewish and American Conquests. Escutcheons were becoming valueless, how sinister soever the blots and clots upon them.
2. Evil or seemingly evil; indicating lurking danger or harm.sinister influencesthe sinister atmosphere of the crypt
3. Of the left side.
• ShakespeareHere on his sinister cheek.
• ShakespeareMy mother's blood
  Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister
  Bounds in my father's.
• 1911, Saki, ‘The Unrest-Cure’, The Chronicles of Clovis:Before the train had stopped he had decorated his sinister shirt-cuff with the inscription, ‘J. P. Huddle, The Warren, Tilfield, near Slowborough.’
4. (heraldry) On the left side of a shield from the wearer's standpoint, and the right side to the viewer.
5. (obsolete) Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest.
• Francis BaconNimble and sinister tricks and shifts.
• SouthHe scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts.
• Sir Walter ScottHe read in their looks ... sinister intentions directed particularly toward himself.

Antonyms

• of the right side: dexter
• heraldry: dexter

Derived terms

Anagrams

• resistin