: expressing or suggesting a threat of harm, danger, etc.
received a threatening message
: indicating or suggesting the approach of possible trouble or danger
saw threatening clouds on the horizon
Synonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web
In Los Angeles, a similar story played out in July, when Starbucks closed six stores due to safety concerns like drug use and threatening behavior.
—
Terry Castleman, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2023
Do not use bear spray on wildlife that poses no threat and is not exhibiting threatening behavior.
—Meg Carney, Field & Stream, 11 Apr. 2023
Indeed, research shows that as China’s coercion has mounted, resistance has grown among Taiwan’s people, who increasingly see China as hostile and threatening and so look for support from the U.S. and other advanced democracies.
—Ann Scott Tyson, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Apr. 2023
In a city overrun by non-threatening zombies, three slackers battle rednecks and a corporate villain to rescue their kidnapped grandma.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 5 Apr. 2023
Krueger implied the shooters were also making threatening comments, however no one testified to that.
—Maggie Prosser, Dallas News, 28 Mar. 2023
Far from humane, these systems are always, inherently, threatening and ruthless.
—Bogdan Costea, Fortune, 30 Mar. 2023
Preliminary data from the report, released by the WHO this month, paint a dire picture: Just 27 new antibiotics for the most threatening infections are in the clinical trial stage of drug development.
—Caroline Hopkins, NBC News, 29 Mar. 2023
The gangs instead have begun sending letters containing a threatening bullet, or even breaking into people’s homes to demand exuberant funds – and when families or individuals can’t pay up, the gangs resort to torture, burnings and murder, often right in front of family members.
—Caitlin Mcfall, Fox News, 28 Mar. 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘threatening.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1530, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of threatening was
in 1530
Dictionary Entries Near threatening
Cite this Entry
“Threatening.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/threatening. Accessed 14 Apr. 2023.
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
threat·en·ing
(thrĕt′n-nĭng)
adj.
1. Making or implying threats: a threatening phone call.
2. Gving warning signs of bad weather: threatening skies.
3. Causing the feeling that one’s power, social standing, or self-esteem is in danger of being diminished: found the criticism threatening.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
threat•en•ing
(ˈθrɛt n ɪŋ)
adj.
1. tending or intended to menace: threatening gestures.
2. ominous: threatening clouds.
threat′en•ing•ly, adv.
Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Threatening
of courtiers—Bk. of St. Albans, 1486.
Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
| Adj. | 1. |  threatening — threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments; «a baleful look»; «forbidding thunderclouds»; «his tone became menacing»; «ominous rumblings of discontent»; «sinister storm clouds»; «a sinister smile»; «his threatening behavior»; «ugly black clouds»; «the situation became ugly»
alarming — frightening because of an awareness of danger |
| 2. | threatening — darkened by clouds; «a heavy sky»
cloudy — full of or covered with clouds; «cloudy skies» |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
threatening
adjective
2. ominous, sinister, forbidding, grim, baleful, inauspicious, bodeful a threatening atmosphere of rising tension and stress
ominous promising, encouraging, reassuring, bright, comforting, favourable, auspicious, propitious
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
threatening
adjective
Expressing, indicating, or warning of an impending danger or misfortune:
The American Heritage® Roget’s Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
výhružný
truende
uhkaava
prijeteći
脅すような
위협적인
grozeč
hotfull
ที่ขู่เข็ญ
đe dọa
threatening
[ˈθretnɪŋ] ADJ
Collins Spanish Dictionary — Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
threatening
[ˈθrɛtənɪŋ] adj
[person, manner, behaviour] → menaçant(e)
He looked very threatening → Il avait l’air très menaçant.
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
threatening
[ˈθrɛtnɪŋ] adj → minaccioso/a
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
threatening
→ تَهْدِيدِيّ výhružný truende drohend απειλητικός amenazador uhkaava menaçant prijeteći minaccioso 脅すような 위협적인 dreigend truende groźny ameaçador угрожающий hotfull ที่ขู่เข็ญ tehdit edici đe dọa 胁迫的
Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- threatning (obsolete)
Etymology[edit]
From threaten + -ing.
Pronunciation[edit]
- enPR: thrĕt′ənĭŋ, IPA(key): /ˈθɹɛt.n̩.ɪŋ/
- Hyphenation: threat‧en‧ing
Verb[edit]
threatening
- present participle of threaten
Adjective[edit]
threatening (comparative more threatening, superlative most threatening)
- Presenting a threat, posing a likely risk of harm.
-
Never turn your back to someone who is displaying threatening behavior.
-
- Making threats, making statements about a willingness to cause harm.
Synonyms[edit]
- minacious, menacing
Hypernyms[edit]
- frightening
Derived terms[edit]
- life-threatening
- nonthreatening, non-threatening
- threateningly
- threateningness
- unthreatening
Translations[edit]
presenting a threat
- Belarusian: пагража́льны (pahražálʹny), пагро́злівы (pahrózlivy)
- Bulgarian: заплашителен (bg) (zaplašitelen)
- Catalan: amenaçador (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 威脅的／威胁的 (zh) (wẽixiéde)
- Finnish: uhkaava (fi)
- French: menaçant (fr)
- German: drohend (de)
- Greek: απειλητικός (el) (apeilitikós)
- Ancient: ἀπειλητικός (apeilētikós)
- Latin: minax, minitābundus
- Macedonian: закану́вачки (zakanúvački)
- Maori: hākiwakiwa (of clouds), pōkerekere (of clouds), pōrukuruku (of clouds), whakawetiweti, whakawehiwehi, whakahakahaka, takareko (of rain), paroro (of the weather)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: truende
- Nynorsk: trugande
- Plautdietsch: dreiwent
- Polish: arcygroźny (pl)
- Portuguese: ameaçador m
- Romanian: amenințător (ro)
- Russian: угрожа́ющий (ru) (ugrožájuščij)
- Spanish: amenazador (es)
- Swedish: hotfull (sv)
- Ukrainian: загро́зливий (zahrózlyvyj), погро́зливий (pohrózlyvyj)
Noun[edit]
threatening (countable and uncountable, plural threatenings)
- An act of threatening; a threat.
-
1864 January 30, [authorship claimed by Edmund Yates], “Pincher Astray”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All The Year Round. A Weekly Journal., volume X, number 249, London: Chapman and Hall, page 539, column 2:
-
The butcher’s boy—a fierce and beefy youth, who openly defied the dog, and waved him off with hurlings of his basket and threatenings of his feet, accompanied by growls of “Git out, yer beast!”—now entered silently;
-
-
- threatening
- [ʹθretnıŋ]
1. угрожающий, грозящий
threatening letter — угрожающее письмо
threatening attitude — угрожающая /грозная/ поза
the weather looks threatening — от такой погоды добра не жди
he was not threatening enough and was refused — его угрозы были недостаточно сильными, и он получил отказ
2. нависший, грозный ()
threatening sky — нахмурившееся небо
Новый большой англо-русский словарь.
2001.
Смотреть что такое «threatening» в других словарях:
-
Threatening — Threat en*ing, a. & n. from {Threaten}, v. {Threat en*ing*ly}, adv. [1913 Webster] {Threatening letters} (Law), letters containing threats, especially those designed to extort money, or to obtain other property, by menaces; blackmailing letters.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
-
threatening — index abusive, chilling effect, dangerous, formidable, imminent, insalubrious, noxious, ominous, pending … Law dictionary
-
threatening — [adj] menacing, ominous aggressive, alarming, apocalyptic, at hand, baleful, baneful, black, bullying, cautionary, close, comminatory, dangerous, dire, fateful, forthcoming, grim, ill boding, imminent, impendent, impending, inauspicious,… … New thesaurus
-
threatening — threat|en|ing [ˈθretn ıŋ] adj 1.) if someone s behaviour is threatening, you believe they intend to harm you ▪ His voice sounded threatening. ▪ a threatening gesture 2.) if the sky or clouds are threatening, bad weather is likely ▪ a threatening… … Dictionary of contemporary English
-
threatening — threat|en|ing [ θretnıŋ ] adjective 1. ) showing or saying that someone is likely to do something that will harm you: She s been receiving threatening phone calls. a threatening look Don t forget , he said in a low threatening voice. 2. )… … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
-
threatening — [[t]θre̱tənɪŋ[/t]] ♦♦♦ ADJ GRADED: usu ADJ n You can describe someone s behaviour as threatening, when you think that they are trying to harm you. → See also , life threatening The police could have charged them with threatening behaviour… She… … English dictionary
-
threatening — UK [ˈθret(ə)nɪŋ] / US adjective 1) showing or saying that someone is likely to do something that will harm you a threatening look She s been receiving threatening phone calls. 2) threatening clouds, skies, or seas show that the weather is likely… … English dictionary
-
threatening — threateningly, adv. /thret n ing/, adj. 1. tending or intended to menace: threatening gestures. 2. causing alarm, as by being imminent; ominous; sinister: threatening clouds. [1520 30; THREATEN + ING2] Syn. 2. See imminent, ominous. * * * … Universalium
-
threatening — adj. VERBS ▪ appear, be, seem, sound ▪ become ▪ find sth ▪ regard sth as, see sth as … Collocations dictionary
-
threatening — adjective 1 talking or behaving in a way that is intended to threaten someone: His voice sounded threatening. 2 making threats: a threatening letter threateningly adverb three /Tri:/ number 1 3 2 the three R s old fashioned used when talking… … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
-
threatening — adjective 1) a threatening letter Syn: menacing, intimidating, bullying, frightening, hostile; formal minatory 2) banks of threatening clouds Syn: ominous, sinister, menacing, alarming, portentous, dark … Thesaurus of popular words
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Stop threatening to kill people on Twitter because you don’t like what they are saying!
Ashleigh Banfield
PRONUNCIATION OF THREATENING
GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF THREATENING
Threatening is an adjective.
The adjective is the word that accompanies the noun to determine or qualify it.
WHAT DOES THREATENING MEAN IN ENGLISH?
Threat
A threat is an act of coercion wherein an act is proposed to elicit a negative response. It is a communicated intent to inflict harm or loss on another person. It can be a crime in many jurisdictions. Threat is widely seen in animals, particularly in a ritualized form, chiefly in order to avoid the unnecessary physical violence that can lead to physical damage or death of both conflicting parties. Some of the more common types of threats forbidden by law are those made with an intent to obtain a pecuniary advantage or to compel a person to act against his or her will. In all states, it is an offense to threaten to use a deadly weapon on another person; injure another’s person or property; or injure another’s reputation.
Definition of threatening in the English dictionary
The definition of threatening in the dictionary is causing fear; menacing. Other definition of threatening is containing threats or menacing warnings.
WORDS THAT RHYME WITH THREATENING
Synonyms and antonyms of threatening in the English dictionary of synonyms
SYNONYMS OF «THREATENING»
The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «threatening» and belong to the same grammatical category.
Translation of «threatening» into 25 languages
TRANSLATION OF THREATENING
Find out the translation of threatening to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of threatening from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «threatening» in English.
Translator English — Chinese
胁迫的
1,325 millions of speakers
Translator English — Spanish
amenazador
570 millions of speakers
Translator English — Hindi
धमकी
380 millions of speakers
Translator English — Arabic
تَهْدِيدِيّ
280 millions of speakers
Translator English — Russian
угрожающий
278 millions of speakers
Translator English — Portuguese
ameaçador
270 millions of speakers
Translator English — Bengali
শাসানি
260 millions of speakers
Translator English — French
menaçant
220 millions of speakers
Translator English — Malay
Mengancam
190 millions of speakers
Translator English — German
drohend
180 millions of speakers
Translator English — Japanese
脅すような
130 millions of speakers
Translator English — Korean
위협적인
85 millions of speakers
Translator English — Javanese
Anceman
85 millions of speakers
Translator English — Vietnamese
đe dọa
80 millions of speakers
Translator English — Tamil
அச்சுறுத்தும்
75 millions of speakers
Translator English — Marathi
धमकी
75 millions of speakers
Translator English — Turkish
tehdit
70 millions of speakers
Translator English — Italian
minaccioso
65 millions of speakers
Translator English — Polish
groźny
50 millions of speakers
Translator English — Ukrainian
загрозливий
40 millions of speakers
Translator English — Romanian
amenințător
30 millions of speakers
Translator English — Greek
απειλητικός
15 millions of speakers
Translator English — Afrikaans
dreig
14 millions of speakers
Translator English — Swedish
hotfull
10 millions of speakers
Translator English — Norwegian
truende
5 millions of speakers
Trends of use of threatening
TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «THREATENING»
The term «threatening» is very widely used and occupies the 11.067 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
FREQUENCY
Very widely used
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «threatening» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of threatening
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «threatening».
FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «THREATENING» OVER TIME
The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «threatening» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «threatening» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.
Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about threatening
10 QUOTES WITH «THREATENING»
Famous quotes and sentences with the word threatening.
Sometimes there are paparazzi that take photos and you don’t know they’re there. So you’re laughing, kicking up your heels and doing silly things. You don’t even realize it. And then there’s other times where they’re two feet away from your face and it’s invasive and it feels threatening, so you don’t want to be smiling.
I would hope to get together with the Latino community, if I could ever have them talk to me without screaming and threatening me. So I hope to get together with the community and try to explain what we do, so that’s going to be one of my missions coming up.
I have had it with people who are threatening me and my kids and my family over simply commenting on the law and criminal procedure, and respecting juries. Because they do work hard. They work way harder than I do; and they work way harder than the rest of those people making those peanut gallery comments.
Stop threatening to kill people on Twitter because you don’t like what they are saying!
Though beauty gives you a weird sense of entitlement, it’s rather frightening and threatening to have others ascribe such importance to something you know you’re just renting for a while.
Male critics and men in the publishing industry want from their women writers what they want from their wives. I’m interested in presenting characters that are more challenging, threatening, complicated and unpredictable.
That the AIDS pandemic is threatening sustainable development in Africa only reinforces the reality that health is at the center of sustainable development.
They appear to have had a higher voter turnout in Iraq than we did in our recent federal elections, and we didn’t have terrorists threatening to kill our families if we voted.
The truth is, about the Middle East is, had there been no oil there, it would be like Africa. Nobody is threatening to intervene in Africa.
When people get at each other’s throat, the rich and the poor and the Left and the Right and so on, and you have a basic breakdown, that becomes very threatening.
10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «THREATENING»
Discover the use of threatening in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to threatening and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Prayers and Promises When Facing a Life-Threatening Illness: …
Here are honest insights and personal stories from a pastor who continues his own journey with ALS (Lou Gehrigs disease).
2
Close to the Bone: Life-Threatening Illness As a Soul Journey
This is a book for any person who is living with a life-threatening illness and for anyone who is caring for and/or loves a person who is ill.
3
Get Your Loved One Sober: Alternatives to Nagging, Pleading, …
Key Features CRAFT is more effective than other types of interventions. This breakthrough new system is sweeping the recovery field. This is its first introduction to the general public.
Robert J. Meyers, Brenda L. Wolfe, 2013
4
Identifying Threats and Threatening Identities: The Social …
«This book is the single best example of the productive and imaginative combination of methodological approaches in IR I have ever seen.
5
Poland’s Threatening Other: The Image of the Jew from 1880 …
This is the first attempt to chart new theoretical directions in the study of Polish-Jewish relations in the wake of the controversy over Jan Gross’s book Neighbors.
6
Counseling Individuals with Life Threatening Illness, Second …
New to This Edition: Generational differences as a source of diversity Expanded sections involving meaning-making strategies (dignity-enhancement therapy, living eulogies, reminiscence therapy, life review, meaning-centered therapy, …
Kenneth J. Doka PhD, 2013
7
Stalking, Threatening, and Attacking Public Figures : A …
With contributions from forensic psychologists and psychiatrists, clinicians, researchers, attorneys, profilers, and current and former law enforcement professionals, this book is the first of its kind, international in scope, and rich in …
Department of Psychiatry University of California J. Reid Meloy Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, San Diego, Department of Psychiatry Heriot Watt University Lorraine Sheridan Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Scotland, Centre for Forensic Psychology Jens Hoffmann Researcher, Team Psychology and Security University of Darmstadt, 2008
8
The Threatening Storm: What Every American Needs to Know …
From the Hardcover edition.
9
Threatening Others: Nicaraguans and the Formation of …
This book explores the construction of the ‘other’ in Costa Rican imagery & considers the role of national identification in modern societies.
Carlos Sandoval García, 2004
10
Satires of Rome: Threatening Poses from Lucilius to Juvenal
Provides a complete and socially and politically contextualised survey of Roman verse satire.
10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «THREATENING»
Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term threatening is used in the context of the following news items.
Cop caught on dash cam threatening to ‘blow a hole’ through driver’s …
A Medford police detective has been placed on administrative leave after he was caught on video threatening to “blow a hole through your f—ing head” while … «Boston.com, Jul 15»
Nashua man charged with criminal threatening
… said a Nashua man was arrested and charged with criminal threatening on … a firearm at a woman and her 16-year-old daughter, threatening to shoot them. «WMUR Manchester, Jul 15»
Two Suffer Life Threatening Injuries During Home Invasion
Police aren’t giving much information at this time but they did tell LEX 18 that both victims are being treated for life-threatening injuries. One victim was airlifted to … «LEX18 Lexington KY News, Jul 15»
AC/DC’s Phil Rudd sentenced to 8 months HOME detention for …
Former AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has escaped jail and instead has been sentenced to eight months’ home detention for threatening to kill and drug charges. «Daily Mail, Jul 15»
Defendant: Judge left ‘threatening‘ voicemail
“It seems clear that it’s threatening,” said Mallery’s attorney Josh Blanchard. “He [Post] doesn’t know why this person failed to appear for court yet. He doesn’t … «WOODTV.com, Jun 15»
The Supreme Court Tackles ‘Threatening‘ Speech, and Strikes…
Among the people whom Elonis had allegedly “threatened” to “injure” were his ex-wife (“Did you know that it’s illegal for me to say I want to kill my wife? «National Review Online, Jun 15»
Life-Threatening Flooding in Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex …
Life-Threatening Flooding in Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex Submerges Cars. By Eric Zerkel and Sean Breslin. Published May 29 2015 07:47 PM EDT. weather. «The Weather Channel, May 15»
Man Threatens Suicide, Police Kill Him
On May 11, Justin Way was drinking and threatening to hurt himself. His father, George Way, said his son was a recovering alcoholic and had been alcohol-free … «Daily Beast, May 15»
Man suffers life-threatening injuries after shooting in Mississauga
TORONTO – Peel police are investigating after a man was seriously injured following a shooting at an auto shop in Mississauga overnight. The incident … «Globalnews.ca, May 15»
Baltimore officer Brian Rice accused of threatening to kill ex …
The Baltimore police lieutenant charged with the manslaughter of Freddie Gray was accused of threatening to kill an ex-girlfriend several years before allegedly … «The Guardian, May 15»
REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Threatening [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/threatening>. Apr 2023 ».
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