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)

, men·aced, men·ac·ing.

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)

, men·aced, men·ac·ing.

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

Derived Forms

• ˈmenacing, adjective
• ˈmenacingly, adverb
• ˈmenacer, noun

Other Words From

• menac·er noun
• pre·menace noun verb (used with object) premenaced premenacing
• un·menaced adjective

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 country seems obsessed with imposing, bluff-fronted SUVs and trucks these days, and the Highlander conforms to this trend, albeit with less implicit menace than others have achieved.

From Ars Technica

The energy swelled, ideas improved, and the menace returned.

From Washington Post

Now the counterterrorism apparatus has to shift its aim to a new menace, one that is more opaque and diffuse than Islamist networks, experts said.

From ProPublica

If they knock off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next weekend, it’ll be because Sean Payton understood his team had shifted away from a points machine under Brees to a defensive menace.

From Washington Post

Wildfires in the West, hurricanes around the world, and an increasingly volatile climate were already a menace as the overheated Earth continued to run a fever.

From Time

Hitchcock leans toward me in a conspiratorial, almost lascivious, way and says, “Let's pile on the menace.”

From The Daily Beast

The menace and abuse was constant; it reads as a household under siege.

From The Daily Beast

But as of Sept. 10, our intelligence agencies knew of no specific menace to the homeland.

From The Daily Beast

Unbridled nationalism is a menace; it leads to trade wars and, all too often, real wars.

From The Daily Beast

“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.

From The Daily Beast

The menace of a thunder-cloud approached as in his childhood's dream; disaster lurked behind the quiet outer show.

From Project Gutenberg

It was clear to every thinking man, American or European, that the control of such a formidable body was a menace to peace.

From Project Gutenberg

When vicious animals are kept for any purpose and are a menace to human beings they are a nuisance.

From Project Gutenberg

I dare not envy many a man:Who runs his life-race well; Whose brave, undaunted peasant bloodDeath's menace cannot quell.

From Project Gutenberg

The worst cases we have are girls, and it is quite clear some of them are an absolute menace.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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