Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms

menace v. 1 threaten, intimidate, daunt, terrorize, terrify, cow,

bully, frighten, scare, alarm: The loan sharks menaced him when he refused to pay.

--n. 2 threat, danger, peril, hazard, risk: The sunken wreck is a menace to navigation. 3 intimidation, scare, threat,

warning, commination: According to law, a menace alone does not constitute an injury.

menacing adj. threatening, looming, impending, ominous, frightening, terrifying, intimidating, minacious, minatory or minatorial, louring or lowering; dangerous, perilous, hazardous, risky,

chancy: Menacing storm clouds scudded across the darkening sky.

menial adj. 1 lowly, servile, humble, subservient, base, low, mean, slavish, demeaning, degrading, ignoble; routine, unskilled: He took a number of menial jobs to pay for his daughter's wedding. 2 servile, fawning, grovelling, toadying, sycophantic, obsequious, cringing, time-serving, flattering, snivelling, Colloq boot-licking, Taboo slang brown-nosing: His insecurity makes him surround himself with menial hangers-on.

--n. 3 lackey, flunkey, serf, slave, underling, minion, Brit

fag, Colloq Brit dogsbody, skivvy, US gofer: He works as one of the menials in the hotel kitchen. 4 toady, sycophant, yes-man, lickspittle, leech, parasite, time-server, Colloq bootlicker,

Taboo slang brown-nose(r): The film star was attended by a retinue of menials, all anxious to keep in her favour.

mental adj. 1 intellectual, cognitive, cerebral, perceptual, rational, conceptual, theoretical, noetic, abstract: The boy staggered us with his ability to perform rapid mental arithmetical calculations. 2 lunatic, mad, crazy, psychotic, demented, mentally ill, unstable, unbalanced, deranged, disturbed, daft, certifiable, Slang off one's rocker, nutty, batty, balmy or barmy, loony, screwy, bonkers, crackers, nuts, bananas, loco: My great-aunt has gone a bit mental in her old age.

mentality n. 1 intelligence, brain, capacity, intellect, wit, sense, judgement, acuity, acumen, I.Q., rationality, understanding: I'd say that Frank is a man of average mentality. 2 inclination, attitude, bent, mind-set, disposition, frame of

mind, temperament, outlook, view: The news betrays little about what is actually happening, but much about the mentality of the leadership. They criticized Britain's 'island mentality'.

mention v. 1 speak or write about, refer to, allude to, touch on or upon, make mention (of), bring up or in, introduce, broach, call or direct attention to, note, name, cite, acknowledge; point

out, indicate, make known, adduce, report, quote: Sergeant Payne was mentioned in dispatches from the front. He mentions the works of Conrad in support of his thesis. 2 divulge, reveal, intimate, disclose, impart, suggest, animadvert on or upon, hint (at), imply, insinuate: Did he mention that Liz was present?

--n. 3 reference, allusion, note, naming, citation, mentioning, Colloq cite: There was a mention of you in the newspaper today. 4 recognition, tribute, acknowledgement, kudos, praise: She won no prize but came in for an honourable mention. 5 announcement, reference, referral, remark: The speaker's mention of the conference reminded me of something.

mercantile

adj. commercial, business, trade, marketing, market: The book dealt with the mercantile affairs of the Hanseatic League.

mercenary adj. 1 money-oriented, grasping, greedy, acquisitive, covetous, predatory, avaricious, venal, Colloq money-grubbing: She

objected that the 'financial world' ought to be renamed the 'mercenary world'. 2 venal, bribable, corrupt, bought, Colloq US on the take: They found themselves a mercenary judge and the indictment was quashed.

--n. 3 hireling, legionnaire, soldier of fortune: The highly trained task force was made up entirely of mercenaries.

merchandise

n. 1 goods, commodities, products, stock, staples, produce: The merchandise you ordered was shipped yesterday.

--v. 2 trade, deal in, traffic in, market, distribute, retail,

(buy and) sell, promote, advertise: We are merchandising the new product line via direct mail.

merchant n. 1 dealer, retailer, seller, shopkeeper, store owner, trader, tradesman or tradeswoman, vendor: High Street merchants are complaining about a decline in sales. 2 pedlar, hawker; (travelling) salesman, (sales) representative, commercial traveller, huckster, door-to-door salesman, US old-fashioned drummer, Colloq (sales) rep: His work as an itinerant merchant took him away from home most of the week. 3 distributor, wholesaler, jobber, broker, agent, forwarder; businessman, merchant prince, mogul, tycoon, magnate, industrialist, US baron: She comes from a family of steel merchants.

merciful adj. compassionate, sympathetic, forgiving, kind, kindly, clement, kind-hearted, forbearing, sparing, lenient, tender, humane, liberal, mild, tender-hearted, soft-hearted, gracious, generous, magnanimous, benignant, beneficent, charitable, thoughtful, considerate, indulgent, big: She begged the governor to be merciful and to spare her life.

merciless adj. cruel, pitiless, ruthless, heartless, unmerciful, inhumane, inhuman, brutal, savage, barbarous, barbaric, barbarian, crude, rude, rough, harsh, tough, callous, hard, hard-hearted, illiberal, tyrannical, stony-hearted, cold, severe, unsparing, insensitive, indifferent, unsympathetic,

unforgiving, ungracious, malevolent, thoughtless, uncharitable, inconsiderate, unmoved, unbending, inflexible, relentless, unrelenting, inexorable: Their captors proved to be utterly merciless. The merciless sun beat down on the desert outpost.

mercy n. compassion, pity, forbearance, quarter, tolerance, sympathy, favour, forgiveness, kindness, kindliness, leniency, tenderness, humanity, humaneness, liberality, kind-heartedness,

got yourself into a fine mess this time!

--v. 4 mess about or around (with). a potter, fool (around), dally, busy oneself, fiddle about or around, play: He enjoys messing about in boats. b philander, trifle, toy, flirt,

seduce, sleep around, fool around, run around: She doesn't want him to mess about with other women. 5 mess up. a disarrange, disarray, dishevel, tousle, Colloq US muss (up): He always messes up my hair when he kisses me. b ruin, destroy, make a shambles of, wreck, bungle, botch, foul up, Colloq make a hash of, Slang muck up: Making that one little mistake messed up his whole career. c dirty, clutter up, make untidy, turn upside down, pull to pieces, upset: The police messed up my whole house looking for the pistol. 6 mess with. interfere in or

with, intervene, meddle with or in, intrude in, butt in or into, tinker with, tamper with, get involved in or with: They ought to learn not to mess with things that don't concern them.

message n. 1 communication, bulletin, report, communiqu‚, news, dispatch or despatch, information, word, intelligence, tidings; note, missive, letter, memorandum: The message reached us by carrier pigeon. 2 speech, address, presentation, statement, declaration: His message was delivered via television to people everywhere. 3 idea, point, import, meaning, essence, implication: The message that he isn't liked around here still hasn't penetrated his thick skull.

messenger n. envoy, emissary, legate, nuncio, intermediary, go-between; page, errand-boy, errand-girl, messenger-boy, messenger-girl, courier, runner, dispatch-rider, Pheidippides, Mercury, Hermes; herald, harbinger; Colloq US gofer: If you don't like the

message, don't take it out on the messenger.

Messiah n. deliverer, liberator, emancipator, saviour, rescuer: They believe in a Messiah who will release them from earthly bondage.

metaphor n. figure (of speech), allusion, analogy, analogue, reference, image, trope, symbol; simile, parabole; metonymy, symbolism, imagery: When she said she was blue, she was using 'blue' as a metaphor. Poetry is rife with metaphor.

metaphoric

adj. metaphorical, non-literal, allusive, analogic(al),

meteoric adj. 1 brief, short-lived, temporary, transitory, transient, ephemeral, evanescent, impermanent, fleeting, momentary, swift, overnight: She enjoyed a meteoric rise as a singer, but after

two years at the top she disappeared without a trace. 2 brilliant, dazzling, flashing, spectacular, sensational: His meteoric career was launched in 1974.

method n. 1 way, means, procedure, approach, route, avenue, road, mode, manner, technique, process, routine, modus operandi; plan, scheme, programme, course, routine, practice, pattern, system, methodology; Colloq US M.O.: What method was used to arrive at the answer? 2 arrangement, order, system, structure,

organization, design, pattern, orderliness, neatness, regularity, discipline: There is a discernible, underlying method to what seems superficially chaotic.

methodical

adj. organized, ordered, systematic, structured, businesslike, orderly, neat, tidy, regular, routine, balanced, disciplined, painstaking, meticulous, deliberate, paced, laborious, plodding, laboured: The weaver resumed his methodical throwing of the shuttle, back and forth, back and forth.

meticulous

adj. careful, precise, accurate, exact, fastidious, scrupulous, thorough, particular, painstaking, punctilious, fussy, finicky, demanding, strict, critical, exacting, perfectionist: His work is noted for its meticulous attention to detail.

metropolis

n. capital, (capital) city; metropolitan area, urban sprawl, megalopolis, municipality: Street crime has become a problem in every major metropolis.

13.3 microbe...

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Technical mesial: We had reached the middle stage of our journey. Her index finger and middle finger are almost exactly the same length.

--n. 2 centre, mid-point, midst, halfway point; heart, bull's-eye: He lives in the middle of the city. The arrow found the very middle of the target. 3 midriff, waist, mid-section, stomach: She wore a red sash round her middle.

midst n. middle, centre, mid-point, halfway point: In the midst of life we are in death. They live in a fairy-tale chƒteau in the midst of beautiful Breton countryside. This proved a welcome boost in the midst of a difficult election campaign.

puissance: I hit my attacker with all my might. Might doesn't always make right. 2 influence, authority, weight, sway, dominion, ascendancy, superiority, mightiness, capability, capacity, power, effect, effectiveness, Colloq clout: It was not till the 20th century that the might of the United States was felt outside its borders.

mighty adj. 1 powerful, strong, potent, influential, dominant, predominant, ascendant, weighty, doughty, authoritarian, autocratic, indomitable: The pen is mightier than the sword. He should have thought twice before challenging such a mighty opponent. 2 strong, muscular, powerful, robust, strapping,

contentious, antagonistic, offensive, truculent, fierce, ferocious, warlike, bellicose, martial, jingoistic, hawkish:

Those who have experienced war are not likely to be militant. 2 warring, fighting, combatant, combating, embattled; at war, up in arms: The militant members of the council refused to discuss terms.

--n. 3 fighter, aggressor, combatant, belligerent, warrior, soldier: Anyone who experiences the hardships of a long strike may think twice before being a militant.

military adj. 1 martial, soldierly, naval, army, fighting, service: The military machine was poised to strike.

--n. 2 (armed) services or forces, army, navy, air force, military establishment, soldiery: The military will oppose any reductions in spending for arms.

militate v. 1 Usually, militate against. discourage, work or go or operate against, foil, counter, countervail, cancel (out), reduce (possibility of), prevent, hinder, resist, oppose: His poor prison record militates against his early parole. 2 Usually, militate for or in favour of. be on the side of, favour, further, promote, help, aid: The same reasoning that militated in favour of lower taxes then persists today.

world, corn is still ground by hand in a stone mill. 2 plant, factory, works, workshop, shop, foundry: This mill turns out rolled steel. 3 been through the mill. experienced, knowledgeable, sophisticated, toughened, hardened, seasoned, battle-scarred, Colloq been through the wringer, in the know: