SINISTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sinister mean? 

• SINISTER (adjective)
  The adjective SINISTER has 3 senses:

1. threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments

2. stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable

3. on or starting from the wearer's left

  Familiarity information: SINISTER used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SINISTER (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments

Synonyms:

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

Context example:

the situation became ugly

Similar:

alarming (frightening because of an awareness of danger)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable

Synonyms:

black; dark; sinister

Context example:

the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him

Similar:

evil (morally bad or wrong)

Sense 3

Meaning:

On or starting from the wearer's left

Context example:

bar sinister

Similar:

sinistral (of or on the left)

Domain category:

heraldry (the study and classification of armorial bearings and the tracing of genealogies)

 Context examples 

In spite of its youth, it has already a sinister history.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a tremendously virile and yet sinister face which was turned towards us.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But now we come to a sinister fact.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Something whispers to me not to depend too much on the prospect that is opened before us, but I will not listen to such a sinister voice.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

And as to the woman who would not take my handkerchief in exchange for her bread, why, she was right, if the offer appeared to her sinister or the exchange unprofitable.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There was something in the tone of this reply, which made Uriah look at the speaker again, with a very sinister and suspicious expression.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The speech had a sinister sound, but I followed him none the less into the house.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

‘Bless you, sir, I know where all my old friends are,’ said the fellow with a sinister smile, and he slouched off after the maid to the kitchen.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But in the will, that idea had sprung from the sinister suggestion of the man Hyde; it was set there with a purpose all too plain and horrible.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

On that to the right sat a very tall and well formed man with red hair, a livid face, and a cold blue eye, which had in it something peculiarly sinister and menacing.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)