Word of the Day for Sunday, June 8, 2008

minatory \MIN-uh-tor-ee\, adjective:

Threatening; menacing.

He was often observed peeping through the bars of a gate and making minatory gestures with his small forefinger while he scolded the sheep with an inarticulate burr, intended to strike terror into their astonished minds.
-- George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss

Then, abruptly on the last page, he lapses into a kinder, gentler tone, as if wanting to leave us with a less minatory impression of himself.
-- Pankaj Mishra, "The Ground Beneath Her Feet", New Statesman, April 9, 1999

. . .state-inspired guerrilla and terrorist campaigns; maritime blockades and minatory troop concentrations; continuous threats and boycotts, etc.
-- Benny Morris, "The Core of the Conflict", New York Times, March 25, 1990

Minatory derives from Latin minatorius, from minari, "to threaten." It is related to menace.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for minatory

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