threaten
to utter a threat against; menace: He threatened the boy with a beating.
to be a menace or source of danger to: Sickness threatened her peace of mind.
to offer (a punishment, injury, etc.) by way of a threat: They threatened swift retaliation.
to give an ominous indication of: The clouds threaten rain.
to utter or use threats.
to indicate impending evil or mischief.
Origin of threaten
1Other words for threaten
Opposites for threaten
Other words from threaten
- threat·en·er, noun
- outthreaten, verb (used with object)
- pre·threat·en, verb (used with object)
- re·threat·en, verb
Words Nearby threaten
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use threaten in a sentence
A deadly pig disease has just entered Germany for the first time, threatening to hammer exports from Europe’s biggest hog-producing nation.
Europe is on high alert after a deadly swine virus emerges in Germany | Bernhard Warner | September 10, 2020 | FortuneThe scuttlebutt was that about half a million dollars of advertising was threatening to walk unless something was done.
McDade subsequently threatened his attackers in a Facebook Live video he made.
Tony McDade case leaves many unanswered questions | Michael K. Lavers | September 4, 2020 | Washington BladeThese often can be removed before they progress to life-threatening stages.
One could ask why trying to persuade someone to wear a mask would threaten their dignity.
Anyone willing to threaten war over a joke is clearly not playing with a full deck.
The Sony Hack and America’s Craven Capitulation To Terror | David Keyes | December 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSeevakumaran uploaded six videos to YouTube on March 17, just hours before he would threaten his roommate and commit suicide.
School Shooters Love This Pickup Artist Website | Brandy Zadrozny | December 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSecond, they threaten one of the most precious resources in our state: public education that is open to all children.
Hunger Games Comes to New York State’s Public Schools | Zephyr Teachout | November 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“I meet with the editors, I write them letters, I threaten them,” he said.
Would Pro-Israel Billionaires Adelson and Saban Really Buy the NYT? | Eli Lake | November 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTNothing may actually threaten America more than our own fears.
Ebola, ISIS, the Border: So Much to Fear, So Little Time! | Gene Robinson | November 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThere are no chains to my prison, no steel cuffs to gall the limbs, no guards to threaten and cow me.
The Soldier of the Valley | Nelson LloydI suppose you think it's brave to come back from the front and threaten a defenceless man with a revolver?
First Plays | A. A. MilneTo raise a club over the head of another and threaten to strike if he speaks, would be an assault.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman | Albert Sidney BollesI have everywhere remarked that the Indians jangle and threaten a great deal, but that they never go beyond that.
A Woman's Journey Round the World | Ida PfeifferThe British under Burgoyne had advanced their works so far as to threaten a complete inclosure of the continental army.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel Munsell
British Dictionary definitions for threaten
/ (ˈθrɛtən) /
(tr) to be a threat to
to be a menacing indication of (something); portend: dark clouds threatened rain
(when tr, may take a clause as object) to express a threat to (a person or people)
Derived forms of threaten
- threatener, noun
- threatening, adjective
- threateningly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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