different between sinister vs dire

English

Alternative forms

• sinistre (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s?n?st?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?s?n?st?/
• Accented on the middle syllable by the older poets, such as Shakespeare, Milton, and Dryden.

Adjective

sinister (comparative more sinister, superlative most sinister)

1. Inauspicious, ominous, unlucky, illegitimate (as in 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. Of the left side.
   • 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.’

4. (heraldry) On the left side of a shield from the wearer's standpoint, and the right side to the viewer.
5. (obsolete) Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest.
   • 1612, Francis Bacon, Of Judicature

     Nimble and sinister tricks and shifts.

   • 1667, Robert South, The Practice of Religion Enforced by Reason

     He scorns to undermine another's interest by any sinister or inferior arts.

Antonyms

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

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• insister, resistin, sinistre

Dutch

Pronunciation

Adjective

sinister (comparative sinisterder, superlative sinisterst)

1. sinister

Inflection

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zi?n?st?/

Adjective

sinister (comparative sinisterer, superlative am sinistersten)

1. sinister

Declension

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *senisteros, of unknown origin, but possibly from a euphemism from the same Proto-Indo-European root as Sanskrit ??????? (san?y?n, “more useful, more advantageous”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /si?nis.ter/, [s???n?s?t??r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /si?nis.ter/, [si?nist??r]

Adjective

sinister (feminine sinistra, neuter sinistrum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)

1. left

   Synonyms: laevus, scaevus

   Antonym: dexter

2. perverse, bad; or adverse, hostile
   • 1st BC, Virgilius

     mores sinistri

     arboribus Notus sinister

3. (religion) auspicious (for Romans) or inauspicious (for Greeks)
   • 1st BC, Virgilius

     sinistra cornix, good omen

   • 2nd century, Apuleius

     sinistro pede profectus, started with bad omen

Declension

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).

Descendants

References

• sinister in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• sinister in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Castiglioni-Mariotti, IL

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin d?rus (“fearful, ominous”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?da???(?)/
• Rhymes: -a??(?)

Adjective

dire (comparative direr or more dire, superlative direst or most dire)

1. Warning of bad consequences: ill-boding; portentous.

2. Requiring action to prevent bad consequences: urgent, pressing.
3. Expressing bad consequences: dreadful; dismal

   Synonyms: horrible, terrible, lamentable

4. (informal) Bad in quality, awful, terrible.

   His dire mistake allowed her to checkmate him with her next move.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:dire.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• voir dire

Anagrams

• Dier, IDer, Reid, dier, drie, ired, ride

French

Etymology

From Middle French dire, from Old French dire, from Latin d?c?, from Proto-Italic *deik?, from Proto-Indo-European *déy?ti (“to show, point out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di?/
• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /d?zi?/
• Rhymes: -i?

Verb

dire

1. to say, to tell
2. (informal) (transitive with à) to be of interest to someone, to interest someone

3. (informal) (transitive with à) to sound familiar

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

• diction
• indicible

Noun

dire m (plural dires)

1. saying (that which is said)
2. belief, opinion

Derived terms

• aux dires de

Further reading

• “dire” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• ride, ridé

Italian

Alternative forms

• dicere (archaic)

Etymology

From a contraction of Latin d?cere, present active infinitive of d?c?, from Proto-Italic *deik?, from Proto-Indo-European *déy?ti (“to show, point out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?di.re/
• Hyphenation: dì?re

Verb

dìre (first-person singular present dìco, first-person singular past historic dìssi, past participle détto, first-person singular imperfect dicévo, second-person singular imperative di' or (with written accent) dì, auxiliary avere) (transitive)

1. to say, tell
2. to recite
3. to mean
4. to think
5. to admit

Conjugation

Related terms

Anagrams

• ride

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?di?.re/, [?d?i???]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?di.re/, [?d?i???]

Adjective

d?re

1. vocative masculine singular of d?rus

References

• dire in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French dire, from a contraction of Latin d?cere, present active infinitive of d?c?.

Verb

dire

1. to say (express using language)

Descendants

• French: dire

Occitan

Alternative forms

• díder, díser

Etymology

From Old Occitan dir, dire, from a contraction of Latin d?cere, present active infinitive of d?c?.

Verb

dire

1. to say (express using language)
2. to mean; to signify

Conjugation

Old French

Etymology

From a contraction of Latin d?cere, present active infinitive of d?c?.

Verb

dire

1. (chiefly intransitive) to say
2. (transitive) to recount (a story)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Descendants

• Middle French: dire
  • French: dire
• Norman: dithe
• Walloon: dire

References

• “Appendix E: Irregular Verbs” in E. Einhorn (1974), Old French: A Concise Handbook, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ?ISBN, page 153

Old Occitan

Alternative forms

• dir

Etymology

From a contraction of Latin d?cere, present active infinitive of d?c?.

Verb

dire

1. to say

Descendants

• Occitan: dire

Walloon

Etymology

From Old French dire, from a contraction of Latin d?c?, d?cere.

Verb

dire

1. to say