minatory
/ˈmɪnəˌt(ə)ri
/adjective formal
Expressing or conveying a threat: he is unlikely to be deterred by minatory finger-wagging...
- The Soviet Union undermined its own objectives by minatory behavior that produced a palpable sense of threat in the Japanese public.
- Its story, about a boy and a minatory dog, is anecdotally slight, but the way in which the camera observes and negotiates the labyrinthine alleyways of central Tehran is visually telling.
- We got Bianca Jagger, sandwiched between Harold Pinter at his most minatory - ‘American barbarism will destroy the world!’
Origin
Mid 16th century: from late Latin minatorius, from minat- 'threatened', from the verb minari.