Dictionary Definition
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"
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
From sinister via Sinistra, SinistreAdjective
Antonyms
- italbrac of the left side: dexter
- italbrac heraldry: dexter
Translations
evil
- Arabic: شرير (sherreer)
- Finnish: pahaenteinen, uhkaava
- Italian: sinistro
- Romanian: sinistru
of the left
Related terms
Extensive Definition
Sinister is originally a Latin term for left
or to the left (and by extension, left-handedness),
and is used in heraldry
to refer to the left of the bearer of the arms, and to the right by
the viewer's eyes. It is often used to mean evil.
Sinister may also refer to:
- Bend sinister, heraldic charge
- Baton sinister, diminutive of the bend sinister
Sinister in comic books and literature:
- Mister Sinister, Marvel Comics supervillain
- Sinister Six, Marvel Comics supervillain group
- Sinister Twelve, Marvel Comics supervillain group
- Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six, comic-related video game
- Sinister Dexter, comic book
- Simon Bar Sinister, villain on the Underdog cartoon show
- Bend Sinister, novel by Vladimir Nabokov
- The Sinister Signpost, Hardy Boys novel by Franklin W. Dixon
Sinister in music:
- Sinister (band), from the Netherlands
- Sinister Footwear, orchestral ballet by Frank Zappa in three movements
- The Sinister Urge, album by Rob Zombie
- Sinister Slaughter, album by the band Macabre
- Bend Sinister, album by the band The Fall
- If You're Feeling Sinister, album by the band Belle & Sebastian
- If You're Feeling Sinister: Live at the Barbican, live album by Belle & Sebastian
See also
- The Sinister Minister
- Synyster Gates, guitarist
sinister in Italian: Sinister
sinister in Norwegian Nynorsk:
Sinister
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
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