minatory
[email protected] 24 Nov 2007 10:58:34 -0000
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The Word of the Day for November 24 is:=20
minatory \MIN-uh-tor-ee\ adjective
: having a menacing quality : threatening=20
Example sentence:
Jordan wanted to tell the teacher who had written the note, bu=
t the class bully=E2=80=99s minatory glare convinced her it would be saf=
er to keep quiet.=20
Did you know?
Knowing that "minatory" means "threatening," can you take a gu=
ess at a related word? If you're familiar with mythology, perhaps you gu=
essed "Minotaur," the name of the bull-headed, people-eating monster of =
Crete. "Minotaur" is a good guess, but as terrifying as the monster soun=
ds, its name isn't related to today's word. The relative we're searching=
for is actually "menace." "Minatory" and "menace" both come from deriva=
tives of the Latin verb "minari," which means "to threaten." "Minatory" =
was borrowed directly from Late Latin "minatorius." "Menace" came to Eng=
lish via Anglo-French "manace, menace," which came from Latin "minac-, m=
inax," meaning "threatening."
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