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threatening. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
threatening, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
threatening in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
threatening you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From threaten + -ing.
Pronunciation
- enPR: thrĕt′ənĭŋ, IPA(key): /ˈθɹɛt.n̩.ɪŋ/
- Hyphenation: threat‧en‧ing
Verb
threatening
- present participle and gerund of threaten
Adjective
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.
c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 229, column 1:Fie, fie, vnknit that thretaning vnkinde brovv, / And dart not ſcornefull glances from thoſe eies, / To vvound thy Lord, thy King, thy Gouernour.
- Making threats, making statements about a willingness to cause harm.
Synonyms
Hypernyms
Derived terms
Translations
presenting a threat
- Belarusian: пагража́льны (pahražálʹny), пагро́злівы (pahrózlivy)
- Bulgarian: заплашителен (bg) (zaplašitelen)
- Catalan: amenaçador (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 威脅的／威胁的 (zh) (wēixié de)
- 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 (pt) m
- Romanian: amenințător (ro)
- Russian: угрожа́ющий (ru) (ugrožájuščij)
- Spanish: amenazador (es)
- Swedish: hotfull (sv)
- Ukrainian: загро́зливий (zahrózlyvyj), погро́зливий (pohrózlyvyj)
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Noun
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;