Sinister

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sinister \Sin"is*ter\ (s[i^]n"[i^]s*t[~e]r; 277), a.
  
     Note: [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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              My mother's blood
              Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister
              Bounds in my father's                 --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Unlucky; inauspicious; disastrous; injurious; evil; -- the
        left being usually regarded as the unlucky side; as,
        sinister influences.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              All the several ills that visit earth,
              Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth. --B.
                                                    Jonson.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity;
        perverse; dishonest; corrupt; as, sinister aims.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts. --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He scorns to undermine another's interest by any
              sinister or inferior arts.            --South.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He read in their looks . . . sinister intentions
              directed particularly toward himself. --Sir W.
                                                    Scott.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Indicative of lurking evil or harm; boding covert danger;
        as, a sinister countenance.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {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}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  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"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  163 Moby Thesaurus words for "sinister":
     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