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Abysmal vs Sinister - What's the difference?

abysmal | sinister |

As adjectives the difference between abysmal and sinister

is that abysmal is (now|rare) pertaining to, or resembling an abyss; unending; profound; fathomless; immeasurable while sinister is inauspicious]], ominous, unlucky, illegitimate (as in [[w:bar sinister|bar sinister ).

abysmal

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (now, rare) Pertaining to, or resembling an abyss; unending; profound; fathomless; immeasurable.
  • * Carlyle
  • Geology gives one the same abysmal extent of time that astronomy does of space.
  • (figurative, colloquial) Bottomless; extremely bad.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012
  • , date=June 9 , author=Owen Phillips , title=Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Robben curled an effort against the foot of the post from the edge of the box after being gifted the ball by an abysmal clearance from keeper Stephan Andersen.}}

    Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "abysmal" is often applied: ignorance, record, performance, poverty, conditions, quality, perplexity, result, and failure.

    References

    sinister

    English

    Alternative forms

    * sinistre (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Inauspicious]], ominous, unlucky, illegitimate (as in [[w:bar sinister, bar sinister ).
  • * Ben Jonson
  • All the several ills that visit earth, / Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth.
  • *'>citation
  • Evil or seemingly evil; indicating lurking danger or harm.
  • sinister influences
    the sinister atmosphere of the crypt
  • Of the left side.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Here on his sinister cheek.
  • * Shakespeare
  • My mother's blood / Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister / Bounds in my father's.
  • * 1911 , (Saki), ‘The Unrest-Cure’, The Chronicles of Clovis :
  • Before the train had stopped he had decorated his sinister shirt-cuff with the inscription, ‘J. P. Huddle, The Warren, Tilfield, near Slowborough.’
  • (heraldry) On the left side of a shield from the wearer's standpoint, and the right side to the viewer.
  • (obsolete) Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts.
  • * South
  • He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • He read in their looks sinister intentions directed particularly toward himself.

    Antonyms

    * (of the right side): dexter * (heraldry): dexter

    Derived terms

    * bar sinister * baton sinister * bend sinister * sinister aspect * sinister base * sinister chief * sinistral

    Anagrams

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