- 1不祥的；陰森的（讓人覺得不太對勁、像有壞事要發生）
Something sinister makes you feel that something evil, dangerous, or against the law is happening, or is about to happen. A sinister smile, a sinister van on an empty road, a sinister silence — the word names the chill, not a proven crime. Though actually, it does not always mean the person is evil; it means the person or the place feels that way. A dark playground at night can be sinister even when nothing is wrong. It is a common word in stories and news, and most speakers know it. It is stronger than odd or strange: odd can be funny, but sinister leans toward threat.
From the word’s history
From Middle English sinistre 'unlucky', from Old French senestre 'left', from Latin sinister 'left hand'.
源自拉丁文 sinister「左手」，中古英文時已指「不吉利」。
組成From Middle English sinistre, “unlucky,” from Old French senestre / sinistre, “left,” from Latin sinister, “left hand.” In Latin, the left side was also the unlucky side, so the word slowly came to mean a dark, threatening feeling. It has nothing to do with left-handed people today.
原始詞典資料5 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
sinisteradj/ˈsɪ.nɪ.stə/
- 1
Inauspicious, ominous, unlucky, illegitimate.
- bar sinister
- All the several ills that visit earth / Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth.
- 2
Evil or seemingly evil; indicating lurking danger or harm.
- sinister influences
- the sinister atmosphere of the crypt
- 3
archaicOf the left side.
- my Mothers bloud / Runs on the dexter checke, and this ſiniſter / Bounds in my fathers:
- His ſicatrice, with an Embleme of warre, heere on his ſiniſter cheeke;
- 4
archaicgovernmentheraldryhobbiesOf the left side.
- 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.
- 5
obsoleteWrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest.
- Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts.
- He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。