Word.ws English Dictionary

menace

/ˈmɛnɪs/

menace noun: a perceived threat or danger.

Noun

menace (plural menaces)

  1. A perceived threat or danger.
    • the dark menace of the distant war.1697, Virgil, “The Ninth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  2. The act of threatening.
    Synonyms:
    minacity, minacy
  3. (informal) An annoying and bothersome person or thing.

Verb

menace (third-person singular simple present menaces, present participle menacing, simple past and past participle menaced)

  1. (ambitransitive, transitive) To make threats against (someone); to intimidate.
    • to menace a country with war
    • My master […] did menace me with death.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  2. (ambitransitive) To threaten (an evil to be inflicted).
    • Upon his browes was pourtraid vgly death,
      And in his eies the furies of his heart,
      That ſhine as Comets, menacing reueng,
      And caſts a pale complexion on his cheeks.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
    • By oath he menaced / Revenge upon the cardinal.1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio)...
  3. (ambitransitive) To endanger (someone or something); to imperil or jeopardize.

menace meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

menace in Tamil

அச்சுறுத்து, கெடுதி, தீநேர்வு, தொல்லை, ஆபத்து

menace in Urdu

آفت, بلا, ڈپٹ, دھمکی, خطرہ, ڈرانا

menace in Bengali

হুমকি, ভীতি, আপদ, বিপদের আশঙ্কা, হুমকি দেওয়া

menace in Malayalam

ഭീഷണി, ഉപദ്രവം, ശല്യം
More languagesFewer languages
menace in Kannada
ಬೆದರಿಕೆ, ಹೆದರಿಕೆ, ಭೀತಿ, ಭಯ
menace in Sanskrit
भर्त्स् bharts
menace in Arabic
تَهْدِيد tahdīd

Examples of menace in a sentence

  • Instead, it was treated as a menace to public health and the economy.
  • Night time is best and big baits are needed to combat lice and other menaces like crabs.
  • So instead of risking serious injury, cats resort to menace and threats.

All 37 example sentences with menace

Synonyms of menace

Forms of menace

Noun
pluralmenaces
Verb
third-person singular presentmenaces
present participlemenacing
past participlemenaced
pastmenaced

Plural of menace: menaces

Origin of menace

From Middle English manace, from Old French manace, menace, &c., from Late Latin minācia (“threat, menace”), from Latin mināx (“threatening”) + -ia (suffix forming abstract nouns).

First attested in 1303: from Middle English manacen, from Old French menacer, manecier, manechier and Anglo-Norman manasser, from the assumed Vulgar Latin *mināciāre, from Latin minācia, whence the noun.

Words formed from menace

Phrases with menace

Words that rhyme with menace

Questions about menace

What does menace mean?
Menace means a perceived threat or danger.
What is menace in Tamil?
Menace in Tamil is அச்சுறுத்து, கெடுதி, தீநேர்வு. See Menace meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is menace?
Menace can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce menace?
Menace is pronounced /ˈmɛnɪs/.
What is the plural of menace?
The plural of menace is menaces.

Words near menace in the dictionary

  1. menabitan
  2. Menaca
  3. menaccanite
  4. menaccanites
  5. menaccanitic
  6. menace
  7. menaced
  8. menaceful
  9. menacement
  10. menacements
  11. menacer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: menace (page history and authors); menace (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); menace (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); menace (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); menace (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); menace (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); भर्त्स् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-menace.wav.

Cite this entry: “menace.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/menace. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.