menace
pronunciation
How to pronounce menace in British English:
UK [ˈmenəs]
How to pronounce menace in American English:
US [ˈmenəs]
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- Noun:
- something that is a source of danger
- a threat or the act of threatening
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- Verb:
- pose a threat to; present a danger to
- express a threat either by an utterance or a gesture
- act in a threatening manner
Word Origin
- menace
- menace: [13] Latin mināx meant ‘threatening’ (it was formed from a base *min- ‘jut’ which also produced English eminent and prominent, and hence etymologically denoted ‘overhanging’). From it was derived the noun minācia ‘threatening things’, which passed into English via Old French manace. The closely related demeanour comes ultimately from a word denoting ‘drive animals with threats’.=> eminent, prominent
- menace (n.)
- 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.
- menace (v.)
- 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.
Synonym
Example
- 1. The invisible menace of radioactivity would have seized tokyo .
- 2. The purpose of all the menace , most people think , is to intimidate the opposition .
- 3. How to confront the menace ?
- 4. There 's an air of menace outside the polytechnic .
- 5. What of china as a rising international menace ?