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sinister

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sinister

  • /ˈsɪ.nɪ.stə/ Australia, UK
  • /ˈsɪ.nɪ.stəɹ/ US
  • /ˈsə.nə.stə/ New Zealand
  • /sɪˈnɪ.sʈə(ɾ)/ South Asia

Where it comes from

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

adjective more sinister · most sinister · sinistre

  1. Inauspicious, ominous, unlucky, illegitimate. bar sinister

    Similar: foreboding, portentous, augurous, baleful, bodeful, boding, dire, disastrous, divine, fatal, ill-boding, ill-fated

  2. Evil or seemingly evil; indicating lurking danger or harm. sinister influences

    Similar: malicious, malevolent, abandoned, arrant, bad, bad apple, bad seed, baleful, scurrilous, baneful, base, black-hearted

  3. archaic Of the left side. my Mothers bloud / Runs on the dexter checke, and this ſiniſter / Bounds in my fathers:

    Opposite: dexter

  4. archaic On the left side of a shield from the wearer's standpoint, and the right side to the viewer. The shield was divided into five, with two coats of arms on the dexter side (the right-hand side from the point of view of the bearer of the shield)—London and Southampton—and three on the sinister side—Salisbury, Winchester and Portsmouth.

    Opposite: dexter

  5. obsolete Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest. Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: evil, wicked, ugly, alarming, minacious, threatening, minatory, menacing, forbidding, black, dark, sinistral, baleful, ominous, nefarious, malign

Translations

Every language

adj ominous

日本語左前の hidarimae no
Portuguêssinistro
Françaissinistre
Deutschsinister
Русскийзлове́щий zlovéščij, злополу́чный zlopolúčnyj

adj evil

Españolsiniestro
日本語悪い warui, 奸な yokoshima na
Portuguêssinistro
Françaissinistre
Deutschböse, sinister
Italianosinistro
Românăsinistru
Русскийзлой zloj
العربيةشَرِير šarīr
עבריתמרושע merusha, רשע rasha

adj on the left

Españolsiniestro
Portuguêssinistro, sestro, esquerdo
Deutschsinister, links, linksseitig
Italianosinistra

adj heraldry: on the left

Españolsiniestro, izquierdo
Françaissénestre
Deutschlinker
Italianosinistra

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Cite this
MLA

"sinister." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sinister. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

sinister. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sinister

Chicago

"sinister." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sinister.

BibTeX
@misc{sinister_2026,
  title = {sinister},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sinister},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}