menacing

adjective

men·​ac·​ing ˈme-nə-siŋ 

: presenting, suggesting, or constituting a menace or threat : threatening

a menacing look

menacing words

[Harold E. Edgerton] … was also one of the first to take photographs of the menacing mushroom cloud emanating from a nuclear blast.

—Benjamin Genocchio

Ransomware is a menacing scam that involves locking businesses out of their computers and demanding payment of a ransom in exchange for the return of company systems and data.

—Roger Williams

The image is chilling: a series of menacing bear traps laid out like footsteps.

—Emily DeNitto

menacingly adverb

A man stepped menacingly from the corner brandishing a long pole …

—Elizabeth George Speare

"If you shout his name I will curse you into oblivion," muttered Tonks menacingly …

—J. K. Rowling

Examples of menacing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world. —Washington Examiner Staff, The Washington Examiner, 28 Feb. 2026

The restraint is noteworthy because the Kim regime often uses parades to showcase its most menacing weapons, and state propaganda has been leaning into weapons imagery recently. —Will Ripley, CNN Money, 26 Feb. 2026

This project, already controversial and logistically fraught, was being complicated by Lewandowski—a menacing, omnipresent operator who had no experience in immigration enforcement, but who was nonetheless quickly consolidating power at the agency. —Mckay Coppins, The Atlantic, 26 Feb. 2026

Congregants were forced to walk through menacing crowds to reach the entrance. —Joseph Potasnik, New York Daily News, 26 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English manacyng, from present participle of manacen "to menace entry 2"

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above