What's the difference between nefarious and sinister?

Nefarious


Definition:

  • (adv.) Wicked in the extreme; abominable; iniquitous; atrociously villainous; execrable; detestably vile.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The author of the new bill, Mike Rogers, the Republican chair of the House intelligence committee , has said it is aimed at tracking the nefarious activities of hackers, terrorists and foreign states, especially China.
  • (2) But remember: record companies can be callous and nefarious beasts."
  • (3) "If there is evidence that a particular American is involved in terrorism or other nefarious activity, then intelligence and law enforcement agencies should absolutely investigate that person aggressively, by showing that evidence to a judge and getting a warrant.
  • (4) For decades she’s been portrayed as a Lady Macbeth involved in nefarious plots, branded as “a congenital liar” and accused of covering up her husband’s misconduct, from Arkansas to Monica Lewinsky.
  • (5) In the fevered Daily Mail version, this fact suggests a nefarious and hyperactive court, up to mischief and rejoicing in 'overruling' national authorities, better to promote the interests of sex offenders and the homicidal.
  • (6) The talks came as the RAF dropped "precision" weapons on the Central Organisation for Electronic Research, described by the Ministry of Defence as "a cover for the regime's nefarious activities".
  • (7) Muscular dysfunction has a nefarious effect on subsequent facial growth.
  • (8) Thor: The Dark World sees Chris Hemsworth's Asgardian prince forced to team up with Tom Hiddleston's crafty Loki to take down an even greater threat, Christopher Eccleston's nefarious Malekith.
  • (9) A few minutes’ walks away, are the Catacumbas del Beaterio , part of a network of tunnels used for nefarious and religious purposes: short tours began last year.
  • (10) The optional measure was designed to “provide DHS greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections by providing an additional tool set which analysts and investigators may use”.
  • (11) Pushkov claimed Moscow and the EU were looking to solve the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine but were being stymied by Washington's nefarious plans.
  • (12) Meanwhile, Donald Trump appeared to accuse Obama of harbouring a nefarious secret agenda on national security, linking the president to the mass shooting.
  • (13) Look, he’s the clear frontrunner, he’s been in six debates already, answered more questions from the media than any other candidate on the stage combined.” The Fox News press release that irked Trump and led to his withdrawal read: “We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president – a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.” Trump derided it as “a wise guy press release .
  • (14) Until recently Bitcoin had been a largely obscure currency used by the tech-savvy , libertarians wishing to thumb their noses at central bankers and people involved in more nefarious activities such as online gambling (often illegal in the US) or drug deals .
  • (15) Time was one would head to that area whenever a nefarious local had gone missing because, in time, the body would wash up in the River Lee.
  • (16) It also warned that “the conviction and detention of an individual for being in a declared area where no evidence has been provided of a nefarious intent could be arbitrary for the purposes of international human rights law”.
  • (17) Naturally, such features can be used for nefarious ends too, but Taaki says that's the price to be paid for freedom.
  • (18) While I’m not interested in a specific individual, I’m interested in the emergent behaviour of the crowd.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest City-simulation company Simudyne creates computerised models ‘with pretty pictures’ to aid disaster-response planning But what about more nefarious bodies who are interested in specific individuals?
  • (19) Via nefarious means I've watched two episodes of Lilyhammer , BBC4's brand new "not very good thing with subtitles we're hoping to keep The Killing audience enraptured with", where a New York mob boss (Steven Van Zandt) goes into hiding in Norway with hilarious results.
  • (20) We all know about the military uses of drones (bomb lots of people, surveillance), and how drones can be used for nefarious purposes (theft, voyeurism), but there are actually some pretty cool uses for drones too.

Sinister


Definition:

  • (a.) On the left hand, or the side of the left hand; left; -- opposed to dexter, or right.
  • (a.) Unlucky; inauspicious; disastrous; injurious; evil; -- the left being usually regarded as the unlucky side; as, sinister influences.
  • (a.) Wrong, as springing from indirection or obliquity; perverse; dishonest; corrupt; as, sinister aims.
  • (a.) Indicative of lurking evil or harm; boding covert danger; as, a sinister countenance.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The committee's findings include that the attacks were not extensively planned by the perpetrators; the intelligence community did a good job of warning about the risk of an attack but a bad job of summarizing the attack when it happened; the state department screwed up by not beefing up security at the mission; nobody blocked any military response; and that the Obama administration was slow to produce a paper trail but was generally not a sinister actor in the episode.
  • (2) He should not try to play political games with the darkest and most sinister chapter of Europe’s history.
  • (3) The American actor played sinister rookie methylamine chemist Todd Alquist in the final season of Breaking Bad.
  • (4) Camille O'Sullivan In 2007, the sinister, humorous gem Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea spread like wildfire just after its opening, and you had to kill to get a ticket.
  • (5) Wenger had complained of a sinister media plot to brainwash Arsenal's home fans, as though they were easily led and swing in the breeze, but it all was sweetness and light as Aaron Ramsey continued his early season swagger.
  • (6) The Chinese government is depicted as benevolent, while the US government manages to be both sinister and useless – typified by the black-clad CIA operatives, one of whom gets beaten up by a Chinese character.
  • (7) The results showed a very good distribution of 100% or 90% in the bronchi principals dexter and sinister.
  • (8) The Velvet Underground’s sinisterly thrilling, entirely unapologetic musical portraits of New York’s gay, drug-taking demimonde must have seemed overwhelming to a British suburban kid in the late 60s.
  • (9) The latest film sees Bond travel from Mexico to the Sahara desert, Italy and the Austrian Alps in pursuit of SPECTRE – an acronym for Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion – the sinister organisation intent on world domination.
  • (10) Sinister individuals in lab coats "advising" from behind the scenes?
  • (11) "But this can be taken out of my hands in a number of sinister ways."
  • (12) The police had handed control of the investigation to Paul Britton, a grandstanding and, in my view, faintly sinister, psychologist.
  • (13) The stories range from the subtly sinister to the outrageously gothic.
  • (14) Other more sinister forces have tried to tap into the widespread hostility towards the banking system.
  • (15) Rumours abound that Trump has had some link to Putin’s sinister finances.
  • (16) This is especially so where its occasional presentation as polypoid lesions of the lower respiratory tract may mimic other more sinister lesions and lead to unwarranted invasive procedures by the unsuspecting clinician.
  • (17) It would be possible to write off the Swartz prosecution (as some have done) as the action of a politically ambitious attorney general, but actually it fits a much more sinister pattern.
  • (18) In retrospect, the movement was not just horrific but often ludicrous in its paranoia: the most "sinister" aspect of one supposed conspiracy, notes the book Mao's Last Revolution , was that even some of its core members appeared unaware of its existence.
  • (19) I don’t know how well thought-through they have been with it.” “You have a medical issue at your home, you call police, you don’t expect it to to be recorded on video forever, and for somebody to come and request [it] and be used against you in some sinister way,” said Gibbons, about the recordings potentially being public record.
  • (20) EL: The first psychiatrist I saw subscribed very much to the same view as my friend and the GP – that my voice (and bear in mind, it's still only a single voice at this time) was a sinister harbinger of something much more serious.