bar sinister
Americannoun
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Heraldry. (not in technical use) a bend sinister or a baton.
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the proof, condition, or stigma of illegitimate birth.
noun
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(not in heraldic usage) another name for bend sinister
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the condition, implication, or stigma of being of illegitimate birth
Etymology
Origin of bar sinister
First recorded in 1815–25
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Yet Christian was branded with the bar sinister; the only title he could really claim was, affectionate or derisive, "General Crack."
From Time Magazine Archive
One result: a son, James Smithson, who became a leading chemist, but because of the bar sinister never a duke.
From Time Magazine Archive
Despite so much blue blood, the bar sinister seared James Smithson all his life.
From Time Magazine Archive
Entitled A Family Album, it opens with an ancestral chart that looks at first glance like the Stuart family tree, minus the bar sinister.
From Time Magazine Archive
He is a Delmar, although with the bar sinister.
From Percival Keene by Marryat, Frederick
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
