Synonyms of menacing

menacing 1 of 2

adjective

1

as in ominous

being or showing a sign of evil or calamity to come

warns that the emergence of new viruses is one of the most menacing developments we face

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ominous
• sinister
• threatening
• bleak
• dark
• somber
• foreboding
• portentous
• murky
• lonely
• darkening
• minatory
• black
• baleful
• dire
• desolate
• direful
• inauspicious
• depressive
• gray
• ill
• unfortunate
• depressing
• doomy
• ill-boding
• cold
• morbid
• unfavorable
• sullen
• dim
• saturnine
• morose
• gloomy
• lugubrious
• cheerless
• sepulchral
• lonesome
• discouraging
• elegiac
• troubled
• dismal
• forlorn
• disconsolate
• funereal
• glum
• dreary
• evil
• chill
• hopeless
• unpromising
• miserable
• malignant
• drear
• comfortless
• cloudy
• unpropitious
• disheartening
• tenebrous
• malign
• plutonian
• godforsaken
• wretched
• Cimmerian
• unlucky
• dreich
• sunless
• tenebrific
• ill-fated
• ill-starred
• star-crossed

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• favorable
• benign
• bright
• promising
• unthreatening
• golden
• encouraging
• prosperous
• hopeful
• auspicious
• propitious
• heartening

2

as in dangerous

involving potential loss or injury

fears that the unemployment rate may be reaching menacing proportions

Synonyms & Similar Words

• dangerous
• hazardous
• perilous
• risky
• serious
• threatening
• unsafe
• treacherous
• precarious
• grave
• unhealthy
• grievous
• venturesome
• random
• destructive
• parlous
• uncertain
• unpleasant
• jeopardizing
• fatal
• harmful
• detrimental
• sickening
• lethal
• insecure
• murderous
• deadly
• ugly
• adverse
• bad
• evil
• malignant
• killer
• nasty
• haphazard
• wicked
• chance
• distressing
• pernicious
• noxious
• dicey
• injurious
• baleful
• fell
• deleterious
• inimical
• baneful
• hurtful
• dire
• ultrahazardous
• ill
• fateful
• mortal
• deathly
• pestilent

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• harmless
• innocuous
• innocent
• safe
• nonthreatening
• good
• beneficial
• unthreatening
• nonhazardous
• advantageous
• ultrasafe

menacing

2 of 2

verb

present participle of menace

1

as in endangering

to place in danger

menaced the children by leaving them in the car unattended

Synonyms & Similar Words

• endangering
• threatening
• risking
• compromising
• jeopardizing
• intimidating
• imperiling
• gambling (with)
• venturing
• periling
• hazarding
• jeoparding
• adventuring
• subjecting
• exposing
• wagering
• chancing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• protecting
• guarding
• shielding
• preserving
• saving
• sheltering
• resuming

2

as in threatening

to remain poised to inflict harm, danger, or distress on

stockpiles of nuclear weapons that continue to menace the inhabitants of this planet

Synonyms & Similar Words

• threatening
• hanging (over)
• endangering
• hovering (over)
• impending (over)
• overhanging
• jeopardizing
• imperiling
• periling
• hazarding

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of menacing

Adjective

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

Twenty‑inch forged alloy wheels, a wider stance, extended wheel arches and higher ride height make the SUV borderline menacing. —Morgan Korn, ABC News, 22 Feb. 2026

Verb

The Chinese, too, are absolutely shocked that a great power is menacing a small neighbor and inflicting regime change by military force. —Tom Nichols, The Atlantic, 3 Jan. 2026

As the two catch up, Crudup veers from good-natured to sorrowful to bitter to menacing in a matter of minutes. —Jenelle Riley, Variety, 2 Jan. 2026