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threatening

[thret-n-ing]

Example Sentences

adjective

tending or intended to menace: threatening gestures.

causing alarm, as by being imminent; ominous; sinister: threatening clouds.

Origin:
1520–30; threaten + -ing²

Related forms

threat·en·ing·ly, adverb

non·threat·en·ing, adjective

non·threat·en·ing·ly, adverb

un·threat·en·ing, adjective

un·threat·en·ing·ly, adverb

Synonyms
2. See imminent, ominous.

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Threatening is always a great word to know.

So is bezoar. Does it mean:

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

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Example Sentences

According to the parents they nave received no threatening letters.

The long-simmering debate over the ethics of paying overseas student recruiters is threatening to boil over.

Several governments are threatening to impose quotas for women in the boardroom.

EXPAND

According to the parents they nave received no threatening letters.

The long-simmering debate over the ethics of paying overseas student recruiters is threatening to boil over.

Several governments are threatening to impose quotas for women in the boardroom.

Menacing body posture can be as threatening as a frightening facial expression, according to new research.

Thank you for your reply and concern regarding the role of fertilizer run-off threatening ocean life.

Tourism is regulated so that it encourages the culture instead of threatening it.

Federal authorities charged him with six counts of mailing threatening letters.

The selling of yen for dollars was a bid to tame a rise in the currency that is threatening the nation's export-led recovery.

I've heard tales of parents threatening to sue schools after their child didn't get into a selective college.

America has avoided default, but political dysfunction is threatening its chances of economic recovery.

Rising ocean temperatures, one of the many effects of global warming, are threatening coral.

Researchers must purge e-mail in-boxes daily of threatening correspondence, simply part of the job of being a climate scientist.

Criticized in the international press for threatening summary.

Threatening outlets is never a winning strategy, and in many cases it may actually backfire.

Student-loan borrowing that is threatening the financial future of today's college students.

The world has enough threatening crises to confront without accepting yet another.

Government officials estimate that dryland salinity resulting from land clearing is now threatening an area of land about.

Growing resistance is threatening global malaria-control efforts.

And now that roof is rotting, threatening the structural integrity of the building.

Forget driving from dealership to dealership or threatening to walk out on a used car deal.

It has weathered many crises, some even more threatening than what confronts us today.

Armenia is threatening to scrap the deal altogether.

Global warming is threatening travel destinations worldwide.

Chronic loneliness alters genes and increases risk for life threatening diseases.

Polluted waters, human encroachment, and ocean acidification are threatening to kill off these.

And that's why they keep suing and threatening to sue their high schools every time they disagree with a grade or a rule.

They were threatening to dismember an empire that he had painstakingly built up over five decades.

Now development is threatening their ancestral waters.

Climate change is also threatening the productivity of the.

But in recent days the threatening e-mails and letters have occurred with increasing frequency and intensity.

Threatening e-mails reminding them that this is part of their grade every week might work.

But many of the loans have turned bad, threatening the balance-sheets of the banks that made them.

Now a new surge of violence is sweeping through the area-and even threatening neighboring countries.

Emissions are making the oceans more acidic, threatening sea life.

China has raised concerns by threatening to limit exports.

D has sent threatening emails and faxes to my work.

But now a bureaucratic snag is threatening the scheme.

Standing around chewing the cud, cows don't look especially threatening.

Threatening green skies during a thunderstorm also proved entirely independent of the type of severe weather that came with it.

She makes a habit of going around threatening to shoot people.

The student in question started shouting and making threatening statements to another student that he disagreed with.

Yet an outbreak of nimbyism is threatening the commodity boom.

But it isn't an asteroid or volcanic eruption that's threatening to finish them off.

The prospect that taking a stroll outside could become life threatening is not exactly cause for celebration.

The web journals are threatening to turn the traditional peer-review system on its head.

The bully with improved social skills won't cease threatening you, but rather will threaten you more subtly.

Minority shareholders are complaining about the potential dilution of their holdings, and some are threatening to sue.

The ability to detect threatening snakes may have shaped the visual system of our primate ancestors, a new study says.

We need to predict in advance when impacts are going to occur and, if necessary, shift the orbits of threatening asteroids.

Its cash reserves were running dry, and the company's credit card processor was threatening to cut off service.

For someone without tenure, these are threatening statements.

The first is that the recent spasms of violence are striking in that the drug gangs are now explicitly threatening civilians.

Aided by project scientists, community members are working to produce a video that will record the changes threatening their home.

The city settled the fifth lawsuit threatening to block.

And with critical blood shortages threatening hospitals nationwide, the project would have lifesaving civilian applications.

Cator said the companies should look at free educational resources as an opportunity, and not a particularly threatening one.

They are threatening to strike if that is the result.

Officials worry that overuse and expanding agricultural activities are threatening the reservoir's future health.

It would seem that paper firms are threatening to use delocalisation blckmail to achieve their aims.

To a depressingly large number of us, they're downright threatening.

Now, say people close to the review, the staff members are threatening to take their names off the masthead.

Science is not yet threatening free will's existence:.

Now new construction could intensify the fragmentation threatening the forests.

Women do seek out affiliation during difficult or threatening times, she says, whereas men don't.

Scientists warn that this practice is threatening the survival of some of the snakes.

However, there is more life threatening damage done by alcohol.

When the bees are lost, this vital ecosystem service is lost too, threatening the food base for the entire region.

The dog, of course, was completely oblivious to the bird's threatening swoops.

In the center is a lit propane tank, its giant flame threatening to incinerate everyone inside.

Treatments for anemia also have potentially life threatening effects.

Modern-day pirates exist, terrorizing the seas and threatening the economic health of the world.

He wasn't threatening us but he was letting us know that our actions are not going unnoticed.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used with object)

to utter a threat against; menace: He threatened the boy with a beating.

to be a menace or source of danger to: Sickness threatened her peace of mind.

to offer (a punishment, injury, etc.) by way of a threat: They threatened swift retaliation.

to give an ominous indication of: The clouds threaten rain.

verb (used without object)

to utter or use threats.

to indicate impending evil or mischief.

Origin:
before 1000; Middle English thretnen, Old English thrēatnian, derivative of thrēat pressure, oppression. See threat, -en¹

Related forms

threat·en·er, noun

out·threat·en, verb (used with object)

pre·threat·en, verb (used with object)

re·threat·en, verb

Synonyms
2. endanger.

Antonyms
2. protect, defend.

Link To threatening

Collins

World English Dictionary

threaten (ˈθrɛt^ən)

—vb
1.	(tr) to be a threat to
2.	to be a menacing indication of (something); portend: dark clouds threatened rain
3.	(when tr, may take a clause as object) to express a threat to (a person or people)

'threatener

—n

'threatening

—*adj*

'threateningly

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Matching Quote

"When it is evening, you say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' And in the morning, It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times."

-unknown author

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