THREATEN • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Threaten

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/θrˈɛtən/ Listen

verb

Threaten v. t. (past & past part. threatened; pres. part. threatening)

To utter threats against; to menace; to inspire with apprehension; to alarm, or attempt to alarm, as with the promise of something evil or disagreeable; to warn. "Let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name."

To exhibit the appearance of (something evil or unpleasant) as approaching; to indicate as impending; to announce the conditional infliction of; as, to threaten war; to threaten death. "The skies look grimly And threaten present blusters."

Synonyms: To menace. Threaten, Menace. Threaten is Anglo-Saxon, and menace is Latin. As often happens, the former is the more familiar term; the latter is more employed in formal style. We are threatened with a drought; the country is menaced with war. "By turns put on the suppliant and the lord: Threatened this moment, and the next implored." "Of the sharp ax Regardless, that o'er his devoted head Hangs menacing."

Threaten v. i. To use threats, or menaces; also, to have a threatening appearance. "Though the seas threaten, they are merciful."

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Etymology of 'Threaten'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Threaten" Quotes from Famous Books

... imperfect account being transmitted to Holland, filled the whole province with consternation. The states forthwith assembling, resolved that all their forces should march immediately to Gueldres, and threaten the garrison of the place with the utmost extremities unless they would immediately deliver the general. But, before these orders could be despatched, the earl arrived at the Hague, to the inexpressible joy of the people, who already ...

— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett

... is indicative of their indifference to the fate of their lessee: "The condition of the house gives evidence of an unwillingness to sink money in an unlucrative enterprise. It is somewhat discouraging to the patrons of the house to sit in ramshackle chairs which threaten to deposit them incontinently on the floor at any moment, and the collapse of a stall has frequently accentuated a musical or dramatic climax in the ...

— Chapters of Opera • Henry Edward Krehbiel

... as little control exercised over them in any respect as is consistent with attaining the legitimate ends of government. The interest, or apparent and supposed interest of the king or aristocracy, is to permit no censure of themselves, at least in any form which they may consider either to threaten their power or seriously to interfere with their free agency. The interest of the people is that there should be full liberty of censure on every public officer, and on every public act or measure. The interest ...

— Considerations on Representative Government • John Stuart Mill

... imply a more violent degree of motion, as throw, thrust, throng, throb, through, threat, threaten, thrall, throws. ...

— A Grammar of the English Tongue • Samuel Johnson

... outraged New Englanders, led by Timothy Pickering and others, began to use again, in town-meetings and legislatures, the old-time language of 1774, once employed against the Five Intolerable Acts, and to threaten secession. As Jefferson said later, "I felt the foundations of the government shaken under my feet by the ...

— The Wars Between England and America • T. C. Smith

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