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Sinister vs Hideous - What's the difference?

sinister | hideous | Related terms |

Sinister is a related term of hideous.


As adjectives the difference between sinister and hideous

is that sinister is inauspicious]], ominous, unlucky, illegitimate (as in [[w:bar sinister|bar sinister ) while hideous is frightful; shocking; extremely ugly.

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

    * ----

    hideous

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Frightful; shocking; extremely ugly.
    • A piteous and hideous spectacle." .
  • Distressing or offensive to the ear; horrible.
  • * 1719 ,
    • He started up, growling at first, but finding his leg broken, fell down again; and then got upon three legs, and gave the most hideous roar that ever I heard.
  • Hateful; shocking.
    • Sure, you have some hideous matter to deliver. -

    Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "hideous" is often applied: monster, creature, man, face, thing, crime, form, death, aspect, spectacle, picture, roar, sound, manner, way, disease, mistake, shape, dress, fact, act, smile.

    Synonyms

    * frightful, ghastly, grim, grisly, grotesque, horrid, dreadful, terrible

    Derived terms

    * hideosity * hideously * hideousness