menace

[men-is]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR menace ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

something that threatens to cause evil, harm, injury, etc.; a threat: Air pollution is a menace to health.

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.

an extremely annoying person.

verb (used with object), men·aced, men·ac·ing.

to utter or direct a threat against; threaten.

to serve as a probable threat to; imperil.

verb (used without object), men·aced, men·ac·ing.

to express or serve as a threat.

Origin of menace

1250–1300; Middle English < Middle French < Latin minācia, equivalent to mināc- (stem of mināx) jutting out, threatening + -ia -ia

Related formsmen·ac·er, nounmen·ac·ing·ly, adverbnon·men·ac·ing, adjectivepre·men·ace, noun, verb (used with object), pre·men·aced, pre·men·ac·ing.un·men·aced, adjectiveun·men·ac·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for menace

peril, plague, hazard, threat, risk, terrorize, intimidate, jeopardize, imperil, endanger, threaten, annoyance, commination, thunder, jeopardy, intimidation, scare, warning, caution, trouble

Examples from the Web for menace

Contemporary Examples of menace

Hitchcock leans toward me in a conspiratorial, almost lascivious, way and says, “Let's pile on the menace.”
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days
David Freeman
December 13, 2014
The menace and abuse was constant; it reads as a household under siege.
Alan Cumming: The Truth About My Father
Tim Teeman
October 14, 2014
Unbridled nationalism is a menace; it leads to trade wars and, all too often, real wars.
The United States Needs Corporate 'Loyalty Oaths'
Jonathan Alter
August 4, 2014
“I am convinced that the only way to fight this menace is by attacking it on many fronts,” he said in a letter to Congress.
Chris Christie to the Drug War: I Wish I Knew How to Quit You
Olivia Nuzzi, Abby Haglage
June 18, 2014
Within the larger political backdrop, ISIS survived and grew into the menace that it is today.
Iran Is the Biggest Loser in Iraq
Aki Peritz
June 15, 2014

Historical Examples of menace

"You will hear from me again," he said, in a tone of menace.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
But think not it is by way of menace, or to intimidate you to favour me.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
There was a menace in Mary's voice under which the girl cringed again.
Within the Law
Marvin Dana
Here on the Street, with its menace just across, he must live, that she might work.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
When a man finds that a woman can reason,—do anything but feel,—he regards her as a menace.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart

British Dictionary definitions for menace

menace

verb

to threaten with violence, danger, etc

noun

literary a threat or the act of threatening

something menacing; a source of danger

informal a nuisance

Derived Formsmenacer, nounmenacing, adjectivemenacingly, adverb

Word Origin for menace

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for menace

c.1300, "declaration of hostile intent," also "act of threatening," from Old French menace "menace, threat" (9c.), from Vulgar Latin minacia "threat, menace" (also source of Spanish amenaza, Italian minaccia), singular of Latin minaciæ "threatening things," from minax (genitive minacis) "threatening," from minari "threaten, jut, project," from minæ "threats, projecting points," from PIE root *men- (2) "to project." Applied to persons from 1936.

c.1300, from Old French menacer "threaten, urge" (11c.), Anglo-French manasser, from Vulgar Latin *minaciare "to threaten," from minacia (see menace (n.)). Related: Menaced; menacing.