Menacing

A criminal offense, codified under that name in a number of United States states including New York, Colorado and Oregon, that criminalizes intentionally placing another person in fear of imminent serious physical injury, generally through a threat, a display of a weapon, or other conduct that would cause a reasonable person to believe they were about to be physically harmed, without requiring the actual physical contact that an assault or battery charge requires. Menacing is distinguished in these states' criminal codes from harassment, which generally does not require the victim to fear imminent physical injury, and from a criminal threat or terroristic threatening statute in other jurisdictions that addresses substantially the same underlying conduct, the fear of imminent violence caused by a threat or a display of intent to harm, under a different statutory name; a number of states additionally recognize an aggravated menacing offense when the perpetrator displays a weapon while making the threat.