What's the difference between sinister and unlucky?

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.

Unlucky


Definition:

  • (a.) Not lucky; not successful; unfortunate; ill-fated; unhappy; as, an unlucky man; an unlucky adventure; an unlucky throw of dice; an unlucky game.
  • (a.) Bringing bad luck; ill-omened; inauspicious.
  • (a.) Mischievous; as, an unlucky wag.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Speaking about the player, who scored crucial goals for England during qualification for the 2014 World Cup, Hodgson said: “Andros was unlucky to lose his place in the squad when he wasn’t getting a regular game and he’s gone to Newcastle, got a regular game, and done very well there.” Expressing his delight in being selected, Townsend tweeted: “Huge honour to be named in provisional England squad for the euros ... Will give my all over next few weeks to try to make final squad!” Hodgson also declared himself pleased to include Jordan Henderson, who returned to action for Liverpool in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion having been out since early April with damaged knee ligaments.
  • (2) Hull were not exactly unlucky, they simply did not create enough from open play to deserve anything from the game, though Brady could hardly have come any closer to scoring.
  • (3) This weekend's games see Palermo engaged in a local derby with Messina, while Lazio host Sampdoria and Milan visit Chievo (whose hometown of Verona is regarded by Mialnisti as particularly unlucky).
  • (4) Although Speed had presided over five victories and five defeats in his 10 matches in charge of the principality, there were plenty of encouraging signs in Speed's stewardship, not least that four of the wins came in the past five games, with an unlucky 1-0 defeat by England at Wembley the only blemish.
  • (5) Yes, Khodorkovsky has been very unlucky in his fate, but we, his compatriots, have been unbelievably lucky: the party of human dignity is today embodied by an individual who conducts himself in a model fashion and does not bend or break under pressure.
  • (6) To cure Alzheimer’s, we first need to figure out why some of us are unlucky enough to get it.
  • (7) I’m nothing special, I’m just a nurse doing her job who got unlucky and caught a virus.
  • (8) There is nothing that anybody can do to pool their risk with the rest of the population, you just have to hope that you are not unlucky.
  • (9) Isaac Rosenberg's insignificant military career and unlucky end were sadly all too common in the first world war and would not be of any special interest had he not emerged as one of the most powerful poets of that war.
  • (10) She had a horrible taste in men, or was incredibly unlucky,” said Swingle.
  • (11) The Tories are likely to to face criticism for making those people unlucky enough to lose out in the lottery of serious illnesses in old age being penalised again by having all their assets above £100,000 being sequestrated by the state.
  • (12) The Argentinian playmaker picked up the loose ball and was unlucky to see his curling shot drift wide.
  • (13) I am one of the unlucky ones as my ancestors emigrated in the 19th century to Australia and eventually returned to Britain.
  • (14) Last season we were unlucky in the semi-finals and this season we would like to carry on the good work,” Cech said.
  • (15) While accepting Italy had been unlucky to be knocked out, Blatter urged restraint on the part of Italy's outraged team, officials and supporters, saying that not only the officials but their players had made decisive mistakes.
  • (16) If the worst part of the task will be whittling his initial 30 choices down to 23 and informing the unlucky seven, ask him what he is most anticipating and Hodgson is unequivocal: "I am looking forward to that first victory and I hope it is the first game so we are off and running."
  • (17) "I can say with my hand on my heart that it was not deliberate ... it was just my Norman Wisdom moment, just one of those unbelievably unlucky things that can sometimes happen.
  • (18) They ignore the poverty that exists for the children who are unlucky enough to live in areas labelled as “affluent” – they’re whitewashed as “having it all” thanks to the average local income.
  • (19) Even before lanes were finished some cyclists squeezed between fences to use them, an unlucky few crashing into barriers marking the end of completed sections while riding at night.
  • (20) Given we'd have to make claims for at least four unrelated repairs a year to end up spending that £186 saving in excess payments (and, surely, we'd have to be really unlucky to need that many again), going for the Flexi option looks very attractive.