menace

[men-is]

noun

1. something that threatens to cause evil, harm, injury, etc.; a threat.

   Air pollution is a menace to health.

2. a person whose actions, attitudes, or ideas are considered dangerous or harmful.

   When he gets behind the wheel of a car, he's a real menace.

3. an extremely annoying person.

verb (used with object)

menaced, menacing 

1. to utter or direct a threat against; threaten.

2. to serve as a probable threat to; imperil.

   overdevelopment that menaces our suburbs.

verb (used without object)

menaced, menacing 

1. to express or serve as a threat.

menace

/ ˈmɛnɪs /

verb

1. to threaten with violence, danger, etc

noun

1. literary,  a threat or the act of threatening

2. something menacing; a source of danger

3. informal,  a nuisance

Other Word Forms

• menacer noun
• premenace noun
• unmenaced adjective
• menacing adjective
• menacingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of menace¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English manace, manance, from Middle French manace, menace, from Late Latin minācia “threat,” equivalent to mināc- (stem of mināx ) “jutting out, threatening” + -ia; verb from noun; -ia

Word History and Origins

Origin of menace¹

C13: ultimately related to Latin minax threatening, from mināri to threaten

Example Sentences

The old man would become the menacing force behind many of Shepard’s plays.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Fittingly, the Clipse opened their set with the menacing “Chains and Whips,” which is jam packed with lethal, high-level bars about why contemporary rappers simply can’t sit with them.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The dim-witted creature knew exactly who had dangled from a rope ladder hastily lowered from a balloon and landed in the same spreading elm branches that the fluffy-tailed, beady-eyed menace called home.

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For some reason she pictured the animal wearing Judge Quinzy’s thick and distorting glasses, which made its glinting amber eyes appear larger and more menacing than they already were.

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But the drivers seemed somehow menacing to her, with their fake friendliness and huckstering offers of a ride.

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Related Words

• endanger 
• imperil 
• intimidate 
• jeopardize 
• terrorize 
• threaten