sinister

Definition

Inauspicious, ominous, unlucky, illegitimate (as in bar sinister).

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

• "All the several ills that visit earth, Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth."
• "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."
• "sinister influences"