English Online Dictionary. What means threatening? What does threatening mean?
English
Alternative forms
- threatning (obsolete)
Pronunciation
- enPR: thrĕt′ənĭŋ, IPA(key): /ˈθɹɛt.n̩.ɪŋ/
- Hyphenation: threat‧en‧ing
Etymology 1
From Middle English thretenyng, þreteninde, equivalent to threaten + -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.
- Making threats, making statements about a willingness to cause harm.
Synonyms
- minacious, menacing, threatensome (dialectal), threatful (rare)
Hypernyms
- frightening
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 2
From Middle English thretenyng, thretnynge, þretnynge, equivalent to threaten + -ing.
Noun
threatening (countable and uncountable, plural threatenings)
- An act of threatening; a threat.