Threatening Meaning
/ˈθɹɛtə.nɪŋ/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbpresent participle and gerund of threaten
adjPresenting a threat, posing a likely risk of harm.
Sentence Examples
The weather is threatening.
The sky had become threatening before I got to the station.
The terrorists are threatening to blow up the plane.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The storm's dark clouds appeared very ____, so we quickly sought shelter inside.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He received a ____ letter from a stranger, so he decided to report the matter to the local police immediately today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English thretenyng, þreteninde, equivalent to threaten + -ing.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Fie, fie, vnknit that thretaning vnkinde brovv, / And dart not ſcornefull glances from thoſe eies, / To vvound thy Lord, thy King, thy Gouernour."
— c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 229, column 1:
"And nowe lorde beholde their threatenyngꝭ / and graunte vnto thy ſervauntꝭ wyth all confydence to ſpeake thy worde."
— 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts iiij:[29], folio clix, recto:
"In Mr. J. C. Hotten’s Life, and in Mr. A. W. Ward’s admirable monograph in the “English Men of Letters” Series, a paper of mine called “Pincher Astray” is attributed to Dickens."
— Edmund Yates (1884), “A Dickens Chapter”, in Edmund Yates: His Recollections and Experiences, volume II, London: Richard Bentley and Son, page 111:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The storm's dark clouds appeared very ____, so we quickly sought shelter inside.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He received a ____ letter from a stranger, so he decided to report the matter to the local police immediately today.