menace
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A perceived threat or danger.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mehnuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmɛnəs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A perceived threat or danger.
A threat or the act of threatening
informal
An annoying and bothersome person or thing.
verb
transitive
To make threats against (someone); to intimidate.
To threaten (an evil to be inflicted).
To endanger (someone or something); to imperil or jeopardize.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A perceived threat or danger.
Used this way, menace is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use menace
- “He menaced the bank manager with a stick.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to make threats against (someone)
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.