Link Centre Dictionary

threaten

threa·ten

US/ˈθɹɛt.n̩/ common

verb

1.

pose a threat to; present a danger to

  • “The pollution is endangering the crops”
Synonyms
2.

to utter intentions of injury or punishment against:"He threatened me when I tried to call the police"

3.

to be a menacing indication of something:"The clouds threaten rain"

  • “Danger threatens”

Origin

From Middle English thretenen, from Old English þrēatnian (“to urge, force, compel”), equivalent to threat + -en.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.