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Webster 1913 Edition

Sinister

Sin′is-ter

(sĭn′ĭs-tẽr; 277)
,
Adj.
[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.
My mother’s blood
Runs on the dexter cheek, and this
sinister

Bounds in my father's
Shakespeare
☞ 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
,
Noun.
–
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
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Sinister

SIN'ISTER

,
Adj.
[L. Probably the primary sense is weak, defective.]
1.
Left; on the left hand, or the side of the left hand; opposed to dexter or right; as the sinister cheek; or the sinister side of an escutcheon.
2.
Evil; bad; corrupt; perverse; dishonest; as sinister means; sinister purpose. He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts.
3.
Unlucky; inauspicious.
4.
Sinister aspect, in astrology, 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.

Definition 2024

sinister

sinister

English

Alternative forms

Adjective

sinister ‎(comparative more sinister, superlative most sinister)

  1. Inauspicious, ominous, unlucky, illegitimate (as in bar sinister).
    • Ben Jonson
      All the several ills that visit earth, / Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth.
    • 1922, Michael Arlen, chapter 1/5/1, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
      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 influences
    the sinister atmosphere of the crypt
  3. Of the left side.
    • Shakespeare
      Here on his sinister cheek.
    • Shakespeare
      My 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 Bacon
      Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts.
    • South
      He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts.
    • Sir Walter Scott
      He read in their looks […] sinister intentions directed particularly toward himself.

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

Adjective

sinister ‎(comparative sinisterder, superlative sinisterst)

  1. sinister

Inflection

Inflection of sinister
uninflected sinister
inflected sinistere
comparative sinisterder
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial sinister sinisterder het sinisterst
het sinisterste
indefinite m./f. sing. sinistere sinisterdere sinisterste
n. sing. sinister sinisterder sinisterste
plural sinistere sinisterdere sinisterste
definite sinistere sinisterdere sinisterste
partitive sinisters sinisterders —

Latin

Etymology

Uncertain origin, but possibly as a euphemism from the same Proto-Indo-European root as Sanskrit सनीयान् ‎(sanīyān, “more useful, more advantageous”).[1]

Pronunciation

Adjective

sinister m ‎(feminine sinistra, neuter sinistrum); first/second declension

  1. left
  2. perverse, bad; or adverse, hostile
    • 1st BC, Virgilius
      mores sinistri
      arboribus Notus sinister
  3. (religion) auspicious (for Romans) or inauspicious (for Greeks)
    • 1st BC, Virgilius
      sinistra cornix, good omen
    • 2nd century, Apuleius
      sinistro pede profectus, started with bad omen

Inflection

First/second declension, nominative masculine singular in -er.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
nominative sinister sinistra sinistrum sinistrī sinistrae sinistra
genitive sinistrī sinistrae sinistrī sinistrōrum sinistrārum sinistrōrum
dative sinistrō sinistrō sinistrīs
accusative sinistrum sinistram sinistrum sinistrōs sinistrās sinistra
ablative sinistrō sinistrā sinistrō sinistrīs
vocative sinister sinistra sinistrum sinistrī sinistrae sinistra

Antonyms

Descendants

References

  1. ↑ Per Klein, Buck.

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsɪnɨstə/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈsɪnɨstər/
  • Accented on the middle syllable by the older poets, such as Shakespeare, Milton, and Dryden.

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