Library / English Dictionary

MENACE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A threat or the act of threatening

Example:

he spoke with desperate menace

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("menace" is a kind of...):

threat (declaration of an intention or a determination to inflict harm on another)

Derivation:

menace (act in a threatening manner)

menace (express a threat either by an utterance or a gesture)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something that is a source of danger

Example:

earthquakes are a constant threat in Japan

Synonyms:

menace; threat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("menace" is a kind of...):

danger (a cause of pain or injury or loss)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "menace"):

yellow peril (the threat to Western civilization said to arise from the power of Asiatic peoples)

Derivation:

menace (pose a threat to; present a danger to)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Act in a threatening manner

Example:

A menacing person

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "menace" is one way to...):

act; behave; do (behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct or comport oneself)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

menace (a threat or the act of threatening)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Express a threat either by an utterance or a gesture

Example:

he menaced the bank manager with a stick

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "menace" is one way to...):

evince; express; show (give expression to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

menace (a threat or the act of threatening)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Pose a threat to; present a danger to

Example:

The pollution is endangering the crops

Synonyms:

endanger; imperil; jeopardise; jeopardize; menace; peril; threaten

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "menace" is one way to...):

be; exist (have an existence, be extant)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

Sam cannot menace Sue

Derivation:

menace (something that is a source of danger)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Only Spitz quivered and bristled as he staggered back and forth, snarling with horrible menace, as though to frighten off impending death.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He held a short, metal-headed stick in his hand, and he advanced in so menacing a fashion that I was right glad to feel the revolver in my pocket.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His dark eyes glanced rapidly over the assembly, and finally settled with a grim and menacing twinkle upon the face of his accuser.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When she saw my face at the window she threw herself forward, and shouted in a voice laden with menace:—Monster, give me my child!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I saw a great yellow face, coarse-grained and greasy, with heavy, double-chin, and two sullen, menacing grey eyes which glared at me from under tufted and sandy brows.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And to add confusion to confusion, there was the servant, an unceasing menace, that appeared noiselessly at his shoulder, a dire Sphinx that propounded puzzles and conundrums demanding instantaneous solution.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Half an hour from now, when I shall again and forever reindue that hated personality, I know how I shall sit shuddering and weeping in my chair, or continue, with the most strained and fearstruck ecstasy of listening, to pace up and down this room (my last earthly refuge) and give ear to every sound of menace.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Out of his puniness and fright he challenged and menaced the whole wide world.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Came days of storm, days and nights of storm, when the ocean menaced us with its roaring whiteness, and the wind smote our struggling boat with a Titan’s buffets.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

For an instant I read hatred and menace in the evil eyes.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)