sinister has definitions from the field of heraldry
1
[ adjective ] threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments

Examples

"a baleful look" "forbidding thunderclouds" "his tone became menacing" "ominous rumblings of discontent" "sinister storm clouds" "a sinister smile" "his threatening behavior"

Used in print

(Howard Nemerov, "Themes and Methods: The Early...)

At_the_same_time the multiple transvestitism involved - the fat man as girl and as baby , as coquette pretending to be a baby - touches for a moment horrifyingly upon the secret sources of a life like Jacoby 's , upon the sinister dreams which form the sources of any human life .

His name is Praisegod_Piepsam , and he is rather fully described as_to his clothing and physiognomy in_a_way which relates him to a sinister type in the author 's repertory - he is a forerunner of those enigmatic strangers in `` Death_in_Venice '' , for_example , who represent some combination of cadaver , exotic , and psychopomp .

Related terms

alarming

2
[ adjective ] stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable

Synonyms

dark black

Examples

"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"

Used in print

(Octavia Waldo, A Cup of the Sun....)

And the forked tongue of gossip licked its sinister way from back_porch to back_porch .

Related terms

evil

3
[ adjective ] (heraldry) on or starting from the wearer's left

Examples

"bar sinister"

Related terms

heraldry sinistral

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