bar sinister
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.58 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The state or characteristic of having been born out of wedlock; illegitimacy; bastardy.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- ""A king's son, though with the bar sinister on his shield, is at least a match for this marmoset of a marquis.""
- "At any rate no bar sinister appeared on the imperial escutcheon."
- "They were descended from the Earls of Halifax and Scarbrough but, as the bar sinister in the Savile coat of arms suggests, illegitimately."
- "He was not influenced by sordid considerations. . . . Had she been merely of illegitimate birth, he would have overlooked the bar sinister."
- "Parlay's a full-blooded Frenchman. . . . About a hundred miserable Paumotans lived on the island. He married the queen—native fashion. . . . Now before the queen died she gave birth to a girl. . . . She was educated like a princess, and she accepted herself in much the same way. Also, she thought she was all-white, and never dreamed of a bar sinister."
- "James Smithson was the illegitimate son of the first Duke of Northumberland, third creation. His mother was a lineal descendant of Henry VII. Despite so much blue blood, the bar sinister seared James Smithson all his life."