sinister meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

sinister

adj

AU, UK /ˈsɪ.nɪ.stə/ · US /ˈsɪ.nɪ.stəɹ/

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

Inauspicious, ominous, unlucky, illegitimate.

bar sinister
All the several ills that visit earth / Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth.1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

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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.1922, Michael Arlen, “1/5/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

Evil or seemingly evil; indicating lurking danger or harm.

Archaic Of the left side.

my Mothers bloud / Runs on the dexter checke, and this ſiniſter / Bounds in my fathers:c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v], column 2:
His ſicatrice, with an Embleme of warre, heere on his ſiniſter cheeke;c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 235:

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Before the train had stopped he had decorated his sinister shirt-cuff with the inscription, ‘J. P. Huddle, The Warren, Tilfield, near Slowborough.’1911, Saki, ‘The Unrest-Cure’, The Chronicles of Clovis:

Government, Heraldry, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Monarchy, Nobility, Politics 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.1956 July 23, Col. H. C. B. Rogers, “Railway Heraldry”, in Railway Magazine, page 477:

Obsolete Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest.

Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts.1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Judicature”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts.1667, Robert South, The Practice of Religion Enforced by Reason:

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He read in their looks […] sinister intentions directed particularly toward himself.1822, [Walter Scott], The Pirate. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:

Derived terms: ambisinister, ambisinistrous, bar sinister, baton sinister, bend sinister, sinister aspect, sinister chief, sinisterism, sinisterity, sinisterly, sinisterness, sinisterwise, sinistral, sinistrous, unsinister