threatening
threa·te·ning
adjective
1.
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”
Origin
From Middle English thretenyng, thretnynge, þretnynge, equivalent to threaten + -ing.
Related words
Word family
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.