Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of a menacing or threatening nature; minacious.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Threatening; menacing.
Wiktionary
- adj. Threatening, menacing.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Threatening; menacing.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
Etymologies
- French minatoire, from Late Latin minātōrius, from Latin minātus, past participle of minārī, to threaten; see minacious.
Examples
“And then the ironically minatory heading on the Twitter page: "What are you doing?”
“It might be fairer to say that the West today is suffering from welcoming the sunny side of Thatcherism while forgetting its minatory aspects.”
“But Anam invests real narrative power in the sections set in the mid-80s, in which the past resonates as an often minatory echo.”
“Brian Fagan does not mention this possibility in "Elixir," his minatory history of humans' relationship with water.”
“And if you approach the area from the country end - along the trackbed of the Cleobury Mortimer & Ditton Priors Light Railway - you are still met by a forest of minatory signs.”
“In metallic black, the car looks minatory and sinister.”
The Wall Street Journal: A Shapely Visitor From Planet Maserati
“I chose Angela Carter's "The Kitchen Child" because it shows her stories can be sunnier, funnier and altogether more high-spirited than her more minatory, gothic tales might suggest.”
The Guardian: Helen Simpson reads 'The Kitchen Child' by Angela Carter
“He spoke aloud again, but in a different voice: this one was stern, minatory, expressive.”
“The priest had the boy gripped by the nape of the neck, a hold made somewhat difficult to maintain by the fact that the lad was slightly taller than his minatory captor.”
“Could someone fetch her, if it wouldn't be too much trouble "'she held out a minatory hand to Cormo, who looked as if he was going to bolt-" not you, Cormo!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘minatory’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 1128 more...
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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Adjectival Arcana
A roster of adjectives that infrequently surface in typical conversation and writing. Many are dredged from scientific or other technical jargon or sieved from examples of disused archaic forms.
unitegmic, acaulescent, reticuloendothelial, ingressive, uniate, acanthopterygian, ossific, epiphysial, perivisceral, acœlomatous, cestoid, acælomate and 7762 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 414 more...
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Vocab
goat rodeo, fardel, quotidian, deportment, opprobrium, deracinated, inculcate, desultory, orotund, chivvy, diktat, casuistry and 24 more...
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Latin
exempli gratia, deus ex machina, prolix, sisyphean, minatory, empyrean, cicatrix, demulcent, effulgence, emulsion, garum, ablative and 13 more...
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Animal kings
crocodilian, lagomorph, ovine, bovine, lupine, minatory, arthropod, zoömimetic, nag, pronk, entomology, buffalo and 20 more...
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Franco
fin-de-siècle, sang-froid, minatory, loup, son et lumière, bonhomie, l'heure bleue, frippery
jaime_d From Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution Mar 6, 2011
yarb They slackened speed before they came to the wharf, which just here by the station jutted out in a grey bastion surmounted by the minatory finger of a derrick, and some of them climbed out and put round baskets full of shining fish upon their heads, and, walking struttingly to brake their heavy boots on the slippery mud, followed a wet track up to the cinderpath.
- Rebecca West, The Judge Jul 29, 2009
chained_bear "Some of his vague, minatory words seemed to hint at an intention of asking Captain Aubrey for satisfaction, of calling him out; but his listeners were few; they paid little attention..."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Ionian Mission, 143 Feb 13, 2008
arby Of a menacing or threatening nature; minacious.
ETYMOLOGY: French minatoire, from Late Latin mintrius, from Latin mintus, past participle of minr, to threaten. Jul 19, 2007
idyll The heavy gilding of the spines, seen through the fine gilt grilled of the carved and gilded bookcases, created a mood of minatory opulence. Dec 27, 2006