threatening

[ thret-n-ing ]

adjective

1. tending or intended to menace:

   threatening gestures.

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

   threatening clouds.

Other Words From

• 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of threatening¹

First recorded in 1520–30; threaten + -ing ²

Synonym Study

See imminent, ominous.

Example Sentences

The transit agency said violators will be put on its Do Not Ride list, which previously has been used for drunk or threatening customers, and is considered a bigger stick than wielding a fine.

From Washington Post

However, people high on hope spent less time paying attention to emotionally sad or threatening information.

From Popular-Science

It actually allowed a considerable amount of opposition activity, as long as it didn’t become threatening.

From Washington Post

To make himself seem much less threatening, he’s run not one but two ads with him and a puppy.

From Washington Post

Unfamiliar and threatening environments kick our survival instincts up a notch.

From Popular-Science

But consider how citizens here in the States are now being arrested for posting threatening messages aimed at police on Facebook.

From The Daily Beast

When the father arrived at the hospital, he was told that Andrew Dossi was in surgery, but the wounds were not life-threatening.

From The Daily Beast

Neither is unnerved by her apparent anger, nor do they see her as threatening.

From The Daily Beast

Now hackers are threatening to bomb any theater that shows it.

From The Daily Beast

But the sunlight is threatening to fade and a three-and-a-half-hour river journey back to Kisangani looms.

From The Daily Beast

This information was balm to Louis, as it seemed to promise a peaceful termination to so threatening an affair.

From Project Gutenberg

Every light in the hall was ablaze; every lamp turned as high as it could be without smoking the chimney or threatening explosion.

From Project Gutenberg

For Tony certainly acknowledged by his attitude the same threatening sense of doom that lay so heavy upon his cousin's heart.

From Project Gutenberg

Bellamy's threatening look rose before him, and made them appear even larger and more terrible than they were.

From Project Gutenberg

A threatening denunciation was in his visage, as he advanced with his staff of office towards his prisoner.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• aggressive
• alarming
• cautionary
• dangerous
• dire
• sinister
• ugly