different between terrible vs sinister
terrible
English
Etymology
From Middle English terrible, from Old French, from Latin terribilis (“frightful”), from terre? (“I frighten, terrify, alarm; I deter by terror, scare (away)”). Compare terror, deter.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /?t?.??.bl?/, /?t?.??.bl?/
- Homophone: tearable, in some accents
Adjective
terrible (comparative terribler or more terrible, superlative terriblest or most terrible)
- Dreadful; causing terror, alarm and fear; awesome
- Formidable, powerful.
- 1883: Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
- […] and there was even a party of the younger men who pretended to admire him, calling him a "true sea-dog," and "real old salt," and such-like names, and saying there was the sort of man that made England terrible at sea.
- 1883: Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
- Intense; extreme in degree or extent.
- Unpleasant; disagreeable.
- Very bad; lousy.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:frightening
Antonyms
- (very bad): excellent
Adverb
terrible (comparative more terrible, superlative most terrible)
- (colloquial, dialect) In a terrible way; to a terrible extent; terribly; awfully.
Related terms
Translations
Further reading
- terrible in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- terrible in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Anagrams
- treblier
Catalan
Pronunciation
- (Balearic, Central) IPA(key): /t??ri.bl?/
- (Valencian) IPA(key): /te?ri.ble/
Adjective
terrible (masculine and feminine plural terribles)
- terrible (causing fear)
- terrible (formidable, intense)
French
Etymology
From Latin terribilis
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /t?.?ibl/
Adjective
terrible (plural terribles)
- (all senses) terrible
- (colloquial) great, excellent
Derived terms
- enfant terrible
Related terms
- terreur
- terriblement
- terrifier
Further reading
- “terrible” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Spanish
Etymology
From Latin terribilis. Cognate with English terrible.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /te?rible/, [t?e?ri.??le]
- Hyphenation: te?rri?ble
Adjective
terrible (plural terribles)
- terrible, awful, horrible (very bad)
- appalling (shocking, causing consternation)
- terrific (very great or intense)
Derived terms
- terribilísimo
- terriblemente
Related terms
- terror
Further reading
- “terrible” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.
terrible From the web:
- what terrible thing it was
- what terrible mean
- when terrible things happen
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- what is the terrible awful thing in the help
sinister
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)
- Inauspicious, ominous, unlucky, illegitimate (as in bar sinister).
- All the several ills that visit earth, / Brought forth by night, with a sinister birth.
- Evil or seemingly evil; indicating lurking danger or harm.
- sinister influences
- the sinister atmosphere of the crypt
- 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.’
- 1911, Saki, ‘The Unrest-Cure’, The Chronicles of Clovis:
- (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.
- 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.
- 1612, Francis Bacon, Of Judicature
Antonyms
- (of the right side): dexter
- (heraldry): dexter
Derived terms
Translations
Anagrams
- insister, resistin, sinistre
Dutch
Pronunciation
Adjective
sinister (comparative sinisterder, superlative sinisterst)
- sinister
Inflection
German
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /zi?n?st?/
Adjective
sinister (comparative sinisterer, superlative am sinistersten)
- 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)
- left
- Synonyms: laevus, scaevus
- Antonym: dexter
- perverse, bad; or adverse, hostile
- 1st BC, Virgilius
- mores sinistri
- arboribus Notus sinister
- 1st BC, Virgilius
- (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
- 1st BC, Virgilius
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
sinister From the web:
- what sinister means
- what's sinister 1 about
- what's sinister 2 about
- what sinister mean in arabic
- what sinister means in farsi
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