threaten

[thret-n]

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verb (used with object)

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.

verb (used without object)

to utter or use threats.
to indicate impending evil or mischief.

Origin of threaten

before 1000; Middle English thretnen, Old English thrēatnian, derivative of thrēat pressure, oppression. See threat, -en¹

Related formsthreat·en·er, nounout·threat·en, verb (used with object)pre·threat·en, verb (used with object)re·threat·en, verb

Synonyms for threaten

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2. endanger.

Antonyms for threaten

2. protect, defend.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for threatened

vulnerable, exposed, imperiled, unprotected, unsafe

Examples from the Web for threatened

Contemporary Examples of threatened

We see the Southern segregationists who threatened his life and that of his family on an almost daily basis.
Dr. King Goes to Hollywood: The Flawed History of ‘Selma’
Gary May
January 2, 2015
More recently, Boko Haram shocked the world by kidnapping 276 female students and threatened to traffic them.
ISIS, Boko Haram, and the Growing Role of Human Trafficking in 21st Century Terrorism
Louise I. Shelley
December 26, 2014
To give the truth its rights, you have to see that groups like TMOC were threatened by peaceful protest.
The Monsters Who Screamed for Dead Cops
Jacob Siegel
December 23, 2014
The collective had threatened attacks on theaters if the movie was not pulled.
Hackers: Sony ‘Very Wise’ to Pull Film
The Daily Beast
December 19, 2014
Women like (gaming blogger Anita Sarkeesian) were threatened, doxxed, and driven from their homes.
10 Things That Made Us Want to Turn Off the Internet Forever in 2014
The Daily Beast
December 15, 2014

Historical Examples of threatened

It was sultry, and there was something in the atmosphere that at once threatened and soothed.
Malbone
Thomas Wentworth Higginson
In other words Mr. Gladstone was threatened with total blindness.
The Grand Old Man
Richard B. Cook
Mr. Lovelace's threatened vengeance is in return for threatened vengeance.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
You hear, brother, with what strange diseases he has threatened me.
The Imaginary Invalid
Molire
It was refused, whereupon Morgan threatened that no quarter should be given.
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates
Howard Pyle

British Dictionary definitions for threatened

threaten

verb

(tr) to be a threat to
to be a menacing indication of (something); portenddark clouds threatened rain
(when tr, may take a clause as object) to express a threat to (a person or people)

Derived Formsthreatener, nounthreatening, adjectivethreateningly, 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

Word Origin and History for threatened

threaten

Old English þreatnian (see threat). Related: Threatened. Threatening in the sense of "portending no good" is recorded from 1520s.