threat
a declaration of an intention or determination to inflict punishment, injury, etc., in retaliation for, or conditionally upon, some action or course: His family convinced him to take the anonymous threats seriously and call the police.
an indication or warning of probable trouble, or of being at risk for something terrible:The threat of a storm was in the air.He confessed under the threat of imprisonment.
a person or thing that threatens: Her attorney will try to convince the judge that she is not a threat to herself or others.
Archaic. to threaten: Do you dare to accuse and threat within my very home?
Origin of threat
1Other words from threat
- coun·ter·threat [koun-ter-thret], /ˈkaʊn tərˌθrɛt/, noun
Words Nearby threat
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use threat in a sentence
“We disclose attacks like these because we believe it’s important the world knows about threats to democratic processes,” Burt said.
Russian hackers are again trying to disrupt U.S. elections, Microsoft says | Verne Kopytoff | September 10, 2020 | FortuneWe have to be as patient and as responsive as we can and acknowledge the challenges that many of these major advertisers are going through as they face fundamental threats to their business models.
‘We’re getting more used to the uncertainty’: BBC Global News chief on ad-funded news | Lucinda Southern | September 10, 2020 | DigidayThis is a threat that many small commercial areas will likely face in the very near future.
Myths and Shame Shouldn’t Guide Cannabis Regulations | John Bertsch | September 8, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoIt’s there that the NSA has unique insight into some of the biggest threats that the public and private sectors face, and uses that information to help protect the nation’s most critical infrastructure and systems from disruption.
NSA’s Anne Neuberger to talk cybersecurity at Disrupt 2020 | Zack Whittaker | September 4, 2020 | TechCrunchCygilant, a threat detection cybersecurity company, has confirmed a ransomware attack.
When communism was a threat, it was construed as a communist plot.
But this war jumps from city to city, depending the threat of the day.
Pentagon Doesn’t Know How Many People It’s Killed in the ISIS War | Nancy A. Youssef | January 7, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTBut his solution to this metastasizing threat is, in some ways, counterintuitive.
ISIS Fight Has a Spy Shortage, Intel Chair Says | Kimberly Dozier | January 2, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST“The threat streams to U.S. interests and Western interests are off the chart,” he said.
ISIS Fight Has a Spy Shortage, Intel Chair Says | Kimberly Dozier | January 2, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThe Perfect Storm writer talks combat brotherhood and the threat posed by growing wealth inequality.
Sebastian Junger on War, Loss, and a Divided America | The Daily Beast Video | January 1, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThat cold, sneering voice, with its note of threat, was like a hand of ice upon his overheated brain.
St. Martin's Summer | Rafael SabatiniHer voice was stern; it bore to the girl's ears a subtle, unworded repetition of the threat the Marquise had already voiced.
St. Martin's Summer | Rafael SabatiniWas it the threat of Tony's near arrival that made her confession—and his dismissal—at last inevitable?
The Wave | Algernon BlackwoodRecall his threat when coughed down on the occasion of his maiden speech in the House of Commons.
Assimilative Memory | Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)It throve because it came with the tempting bribe of Heaven in one hand, and the withering threat of Hell in the other.
God and my Neighbour | Robert Blatchford
British Dictionary definitions for threat
/ (θrɛt) /
a declaration of the intention to inflict harm, pain, or misery
an indication of imminent harm, danger, or pain
a person or thing that is regarded as dangerous or likely to inflict pain or misery
an archaic word for threaten
Origin of threat
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with threat
see triple threat.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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