Word of the Day

: November 24, 2007

minatory

adjective MIN-uh-tor-ee

What It Means

: having a menacing quality : threatening

minatory in Context

Jordan wanted to tell the teacher who had written the note, but the class bully's minatory glare convinced her it would be safer to keep quiet.

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 today's word. 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."