No. 4,948 in French
sinistre
"Sinistre" in English means "ominous" or "disastrous."
In a sentence
Le bâtiment abandonné avait une atmosphère sinistre.
The abandoned building had a sinister atmosphere.
In this sentence, 'sinistre' is used as an adjective to describe an ominous or threatening attribute of the building.
Après le sinistre, les habitants se sont organisés pour reconstruire.
After the disaster, the residents organized themselves to rebuild.
Here, 'sinistre' is employed as a noun to refer to a disastrous or damaging event, commonly an accident or a calamity.
Son sourire sinistre faisait frémir tout le monde.
His sinister smile made everyone shiver.
In this context, 'sinistre' is used as an adjective describing a person's smile, conveying a sense of being eerie or unsettling.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “sinistre” in actual French podcasts.
Find “sinistre” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays French podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there.
Get the appFrench books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).