Definition of minatory
: having a menacing quality
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Examples of minatory in a Sentence
the novel's protagonist is haunted by a minatory black specter
Did You Know?
Knowing that minatory means "threatening," can you take a guess at a related word? If you're familiar with mythology, perhaps you guessed Minotaur, the name of the bull-headed, people-eating monster of Crete. Minotaur is a good guess, but as terrifying as the monster sounds, its name isn't related to minatory. The relative we're searching for is actually menace. Minatory and menace both come from derivatives of the Latin verb minari, which means "to threaten." Minatory was borrowed directly from Late Latin minatorius. Menace came to English via Anglo-French manace, menace, which came from Latin minac-, minax, meaning "threatening."
Origin and Etymology of minatory
minatory Synonyms
Synonyms
baleful, dire, direful, foreboding, ill, ill-boding, inauspicious, menacing, ominous, portentous, sinister, threatening;
Antonyms
Near Antonyms
auspicious, benign, bright, encouraging, favorable, golden, heartening, hopeful, promising, propitious, prosperous;
Related Words
black, bleak, cheerless, chill, cold, comfortless, dark, darkening, depressing, depressive, desolate, dim, disconsolate, dismal, drear, dreary, forlorn, funereal, gloomy, glum, godforsaken, gray (also grey), lonely, lonesome, lugubrious, miserable, morbid, morose, murky, saturnine, sepulchral, somber (or sombre), sullen, wretched;
discouraging, disheartening, hopeless, unfavorable, unpromising, unpropitious;
ill-fated, ill-starred, star-crossed, troubled, unfortunate, unlucky;
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