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

Nearly every story of demonic menace requires a young, helpless woman — or better yet, a girl — as the idealized victim the devil wants to possess.

Read more on Salon

AI can scan, flag, and analyze at speeds humans cannot, but it still lacks context, nuance, and the human intuition necessary to differentiate between chips and guns, mischief and menace.

Read more on Salon

The low, menacing hum of those Iranian-designed weapons, which carry a lethal 50kg payload, is now all too familiar, not only to soldiers on the front line, but to Ukrainians everywhere.

Read more on BBC

They have been menaced for money over dropped passes and missed shots.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“Troublesome Young Men” recounts how a group of young political allies in 1930s Great Britain stood with Winston Churchill to confront the growing Nazi menace and oppose Conservative Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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