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Definitions

sinister

[sin-uh-ster] / ˈsɪn ə stər /
ADJECTIVE
nasty, menacing
Synonyms
STRONGEST
dire evil malevolent mischievous ominous perverse threatening
WEAK
adverse apocalyptic bad baleful baneful blackhearted corrupt deleterious disastrous dishonest disquieting doomful foreboding harmful hurtful ill-boding inauspicious injurious lowering malefic malign malignant obnoxious pernicious poisonous portentous unfavorable unfortunate unlucky unpropitious woeful
Antonyms
STRONGEST
auspicious good lucky nice
WEAK
benevolent kind

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In Sergei Loznitsa’s new drama, stairwells are sinister.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

The movie’s real draw is its blissfully sinister sound design, which utilizes the podcaster lifestyle to go full maximalist while the film’s visual landscape remains sparse and disquieting.

From Salon • Mar. 15, 2026

A more sinister figure lurks behind Rodriguez in interior and justice minister Diosdado Cabello, Pachon notes.

From Barron's • Mar. 12, 2026

Miriam is vivacious and energetic but dogged by an unexplained sin from her earlier life—a sin that vests itself in the sinister person of her “model.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

He seemed harmless, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that his accommodating manner, his eagerness to help us, was masking something unpleasant, something more sinister in him.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall