SINISTER

baleful, forbidding, menacing, minacious, minatory, ominous, sinister, threatening

(adjective) 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”

sinister

(adjective) on or starting from the wearer’s left; “bar sinister”

black, dark, sinister

(adjective) 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

Source: WordNet® 3.1

---

Etymology

Adjective

sinister (comparative more sinister, superlative most sinister)

Inauspicious, ominous, unlucky, illegitimate (as in bar sinister).

Evil or seemingly evil; indicating lurking danger or harm.

Of the left side.

(heraldry) On the left side of a shield from the wearer's standpoint, and the right side to the viewer.

(obsolete) Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest.

Antonyms

• (of the right side): dexter

• (heraldry): dexter

Anagrams

• insister, resistin, sinistre

Source: Wiktionary

---

Sin"is*ter, a. Etym: [Accented on the middle syllable by the older poets, as Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden.] Etym: [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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

---

Do you know this game?

Wordscapes is a popular word game consistently in the top charts of both Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The Android version has more than 10 million installs. This guide will help you get more coins in less than two minutes of playing the game. Continue reading Wordscapes: Get More Coins