threatening

[thret-n-ing]

adjective

1. tending or intended to menace.

   threatening gestures.

2. causing alarm, as by being imminent; ominous; sinister.

   threatening clouds.

Other Word Forms

• threateningly adverb
• nonthreatening adjective
• nonthreateningly adverb
• unthreatening adjective
• unthreateningly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of threatening¹

First recorded in 1520–30; threaten + -ing ²

Synonym Study

See imminent, ominous.

Example Sentences

Higher shipping costs could change the economic calculus for some oil exporters, prompting them to sell to the domestic market instead—threatening a further impact on global oil supply.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The defendants present at the hearing, including a student, a father and carer, admitted to sending messages but denied they were threatening or constituted harassment.

Read more on Barron's

The former mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson has denied charges of bribery and misconduct - including allegations that he sent himself "threatening letters".

Read more on BBC

But with the dismantling of illegal supply chains, European supply has diminished and there's been a rise in shipments from the Caribbean, threatening that population, Kerr warned.

Read more on Barron's

Analysts with Oxford Economics said the recent technology draw-down signals "a healthy correction rather than the start of something more threatening".

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• aggressive 
• alarming 
• cautionary 
• dangerous 
• dire 
• sinister 
• ugly