threatenthreat‧en /ˈθretn/ ●●● S3 W2 verb 
Postal workers are threatening a strike if they don’t receive a pay increase.threaten to do something He threatened to take them to court.threaten somebody with something Doctors are sometimes threatened with violence if they don’t do what patients want.threaten (that) Then he became angry and threatened that he would go to the police.2[transitive] to be likely to harm or destroy something: Poaching threatens the survival of the rhino.threaten to do something The incident threatens to ruin his chances in the election.be threatened with something Large areas of the jungle are now threatened with destruction.3[intransitive, transitive] to be likely to happen or be in a bad situation: Britain’s fishing industry remains threatened. Dark clouds threatened rain.
VERB TABLE
threaten
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | threaten |
| he, she, it | threatens | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | threatened |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have threatened |
| he, she, it | has threatened | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had threatened |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will threaten |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have threatened |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am threatening |
| he, she, it | is threatening | |
| you, we, they | are threatening | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was threatening |
| you, we, they | were threatening | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been threatening |
| he, she, it | has been threatening | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been threatening |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be threatening |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been threatening |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- A severe drought is threatening the rice crop.
- According to some scientists, global warming threatens the survival of the whole human race.
- After threatening the manager with a knife, he stole £300 and ran off.
- By August, it was clear that the volcano could threaten the whole island.
- Every time we have a quarrel, she threatens to leave me.
- I was threatened with jail if I published the story.
- Illegal hunting threatens the survival of the African Elephant.
- Our rainforests are being threatened with destruction, and the consequences will be severe.
- Pollution is threatening the marine life in the bay.
- Somalia was again crippled by a drought that threatened to kill hundreds of thousands more.
- The dispute threatened to damage East-West relations.
- Then he started threatening me and saying that my family might get hurt.
- When they found out he was an American, the soldiers threatened to kill him.
- All liberties, in fact, threaten each other: one limits another, and later succumbs to a further rival.
- All this is supposed to guarantee a sense of safety, but after Mr Safra's death, the image is threatened.
- But one night Hilda drowned herself in the lake, just as she had threatened to do.
- Flowers made an excellent save from Roy Keane three minutes later as United threatened to record a big win.
- The February attack could mark a change of tactics which will really threaten the regime if there is an escalation.
- The unions threatened a further general strike on Aug. 22-23 if basic food subsidies and wages were not increased.
- When Rose was pregnant, Steve threatened to call the poor child after the book's narrator, Ishmael!
Longman Language Activatorto threaten someone
to tell someone that you will hurt them or cause serious problems for them if they do not do what you want: · Then he started threatening me and saying that my family might get hurt.threaten to do something: · When they found out he was an American, the soldiers threatened to kill him.· Every time we have a quarrel, she threatens to leave me.threaten somebody with a knife/gun etc: · After threatening the manager with a knife, he stole £300 and ran off.threaten somebody with violence/jail/legal action etc (=say you will hurt someone, put them in prison etc): · I was threatened with jail if I published the story.
to try to make someone do what you want by making them feel afraid: · He's being kept in jail until the trial so that he can't intimidate any of the witnesses.· The boss is quite tough, but don't let him intimidate you.intimidate somebody into doing something: · Some workers are saying that they were intimidated into accepting the pay cuts, with threats of job losses.
to try to make someone stay away from somewhere or stop doing something by warning or threatening them: · Journalists trying to investigate the scandal were warned off by the FBI.warn somebody off something: · The old man warned them off his land.warn somebody off doing something: · Joanna's brothers had warned him off seeing her again.
British to force a group, organization, or government to give you what you want by threatening to cause political or financial difficulties if they do not: · What gives cheaper fuel campaigners the right to hold the country to ransom?· The president said that the company would not be held to ransom by strikes.
to repeatedly threaten to harm someone: · He wanted more money and over the next few weeks made further threats.make/issue threats about: · It's a waste of time issuing vague threats about imposing sanctions -- we should send in the army.make/issue threats against: · Threats have been made against the judge who is investigating the case.
informal to threaten witnesses, judges, or other people involved in a court case in order to influence the court's decision: · The trial had to be abandoned when it was discovered that jury members had been got at by the Mafia.· He didn't like the idea that he had been nobbled, especially by a woman.· When the police questioned Davis, it was clear someone else had gotten to him first.
formal achieved by using unfair threats to force someone to admit something or give something to someone: · The confession had been obtained under duress, and therefore could not be allowed as evidence.· In her defence, the accused said that she had been acting under duress when she took the money.
to threaten someone in order to get money from them to force someone to give you money or do what you want, by threatening to tell people about something that they want to keep secret: · You cannot blackmail a man who has nothing to hide.· The priest was being blackmailed by a woman who said he was the father of her child.blackmail somebody into (doing) something: · She had tried to use the photographs to blackmail him into marrying her.· We will not be blackmailed into silence.
to get money from someone by threatening them: · He sought to extort money by threatening to reveal secrets about his boss's private life.extort something from somebody: · For years the gang extorted money from local storekeepers.
behaving in a threatening way threatening words or behaviour are intended to make someone feel afraid, so that they do what you want: · "You listen to me!" he said in a threatening voice.· He was arrested for threatening behaviour and using abusive language.threatening letter/phone call: · Before the attack I'd received several threatening phone calls.
making you feel frightened, especially in a quiet way and even though nothing violent is actually said or done: · One of the guards gave a low, menacing laugh.· There was something strange and rather menacing about the way she spoke.
something you say or write in order to threaten someone when you tell someone that you will hurt them or cause serious problems for them if they do not do what you want: · I'm prepared to listen to him, but I'm not going to respond to threats.make threats: · He denied making threats to kill her.receive a threat: · Immigrant families in the area have received threats from right-wing extremist groups.death threat (=when someone threatens to kill you): · She claims she received anonymous death threats after she gave evidence in the trial.carry out a threat (=do what you threatened to do): · He showed no sign of carrying out his threat of making them pay.
a final, often official, warning that unless someone does something you will punish or attack them: give somebody an ultimatum: · She's ignored all my previous warnings about being late for work, so I've decided to give her an ultimatum.issue an ultimatum: · The hijackers have issued an ultimatum -- either the government releases the prisoners or the plane will be blown up.
actions that threaten someone when you try to make someone do what you want by making them feel afraid: · Hoskins used intimidation and violence to get money from local restaurant owners.· The killings are part of a campaign of intimidation against opposition supporters.
a way of behaving or speaking that makes people think that you are threatening them, even though you do not actually say or do anything violent: · His voice was soft but his tone and expression were full of menace.· Her manner suddenly changed from friendliness and warmth to one of faint menace.
British the criminal offence of behaving in a threatening way towards someone - use this in legal contexts: · He was charged with being drunk and disorderly and using threatening behaviour.
to be likely to be dangerous to people or things to be likely to harm other people or things: · People who drink and drive are a danger to themselves and to others.· The judge described Thomas as 'a danger to the public'.· Extreme nationalism is the single greatest danger to peace in the modern world.
formal if a situation or the existence of something poses a threat , it is dangerous to people: · Supplies of food were so low that this posed a threat as serious as invasion.pose a threat to: · Chemicals in our drinking water could pose a serious threat to public health.pose no threat: · Scientists feel that present levels of radiation pose no threat.
if an activity or a problem threatens something such as a place, animal, or way of life, it could cause it to no longer exist: · Illegal hunting threatens the survival of the African elephant.· By August, it was clear that the volcano could threaten the whole island.
someone who is a menace behaves in a dangerous way, without thinking about the safety of other people: · Drivers like that are a menace. They shouldn't be allowed on the road.be a menace to: · We consider drug trafficking to be a menace to the security of our nation.
to be likely to kill people, cause accidents etc: · Ice on the road is a major hazard at this time of the year.be a hazard to: · The residents of Hollyhurst Road complained that cars parked there were a hazard to pedestrians.be a fire/health/environmental etc hazard: · Garbage that is left uncollected becomes a serious health hazard.
a situation or object that is likely to cause a fire or to damage people's health: · Litter problems and a high fire risk mean that there is now restricted camping on the route.· Cigarettes are acknowledged as a serious health risk and the main cause of lung cancer.
informal if a building, road, car etc is a death-trap , it is very dangerous to enter or use, for example because it is in very bad condition, or is badly designed: · Fire-safety inspectors described the basement night-club as a death trap.· The ancient bridge was described as a potential death trap for the tourists that flock there.
when something bad is likely to happen if someone is heading for an unpleasant situation, it is becoming more and more likely that this situation will actually happen: · I'm worried about Molly. She looks as if she's heading for a nervous breakdown.· There are fears that the company could be heading for closure, following a bad year.
if you say you are in for something unpleasant, it is almost certain to happen to you fairly soon: · It's pretty stormy! I think we're in for a rough flight.· If they think they're going to build a new motorway near here, they're in for a shock.
if something threatens to cause an unpleasant situation, it seems likely that it will cause it: threaten to do something: · The dispute threatened to damage East-West relations.· Somalia was again crippled by a drought that threatened to kill hundreds of thousands more.threaten somebody/something with something: · Our rainforests are being threatened with destruction, and the consequences will be severe.
something that is a threat is likely to cause something unpleasant to happen: threat of: · The threat of inflation and high interest rates led to a wage freeze.· the threat of invasionthreat to: · After the floods, contaminated water was a serious threat to public health.pose a threat (for): · Global warming poses a serious threat for the future.
to cause risks to do something that makes it more likely that someone or something will be harmed: · The pilot has been accused of putting his passengers' lives at risk.· Development in the wetlands will put the environment and wildlife habitats at risk.put sb/sth at risk of: · Some people carry a gene that puts them at greater risk of certain cancers.
to make it likely that something bad will happen to someone or something: · A severe drought is threatening the rice crop.· According to some scientists, global warming threatens the survival of the whole human race.
to put someone or something in a dangerous or harmful situation: · The U.S. was unwilling to do anything that might endanger the alliance with Japan.· The pilot refused to endanger the lives of his passengers by making an unscheduled landing.· If unemployment continues to rise, social stability may be endangered.
also put/place something in jeopardy to do something that increases the risk that something good will be harmed or lost: · A scandal like this might jeopardize his political career.· The breaking of the ceasefire has put the whole peace process in jeopardy.seriously jeopardize: · The country's economic future is seriously jeopardized by the mass emigration of young people.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES Several military bases are threatened with closure. despair so great it threatened to engulf him
· His behavior became increasingly violent.
Several military bases are threatened with closure. (=that may cause death)· The surgery repaired a potentially life-threatening heart condition.
(=seems likely)· Most birds will warn other birds when danger threatens.
despair so great it threatened to engulf him (=make it likely that something will stop existing)· The strike could jeopardize the existence of his company.
(=very likely to stop existing)· Hundreds of species of birds are now threatened with extinction.
· One of the men made a threatening gesture, and I ran.
(=likely to cause death)· Doctors say that his illness isn’t life-threatening.
· The girls were threatened with a knife.
· The government should not be so strong that it threatens individual liberty.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· Many birds, small mammals and fish have become extinct or are seriously threatened.· Indeed, the viability of the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been seriously threatened.· Moktadir, who was seriously threatened by the neighbouring kingdoms of Navarre and Aragon, gladly accepted.· Elias, has been seriously threatened, because of its provocative color.· There are 6 agents within a mile of his shop on the Abingdon Road and another outlet would seriously threaten his business.· With regard to the seriously threatened Engelmann oak in San Diego County, merely saving lane trees is not enough.· Probably more so in fact, for all organisms are more seriously threatened by competition from their own species than from others.· Not until the twentieth century did the increase in population force an uneconomic division of farms and seriously threaten Basque rural prosperity.
NOUN· The company plans to dock the officers' pay and is threatening disciplinary action.· After being pleasant about it for some months, I had finally threatened him with legal action.· He resigned from the Conservatives after they threatened legal action over the loan.· They will threaten legal action for nonpayment.· The union is threatening further industrial action.· That prompted college trustees last month to threaten legal action if the architect and construction manager did not help resolve the problems.· The recipient might become worried if successive letters then come threatening that action will be taken to obtain the price from him.· As a result he has been threatened with libel action and even physical violence.
· But now Government cuts means the home is threatened with closure.· It has been threatened with closure, water officials said.· Two years ago the Cowley plant was threatened with closure.· The method involved asking what users and non-users would pay to keep the centre open if it were threatened with closure.· They linked up in a silent demonstration of support for the school which is threatened with closure.· He has spoken up for them when their homes have been threatened with closure and voiced their opinions on Radio Cleveland.· Since he opened in September 1999, he says he has been threatened with closure on several occasions.· He began his statement by announcing that Chelsea's Stamford Bridge ground, which had been threatened with closure, was safe.
· Deny or threaten it, and you deny and threaten some one's existence.· Indeed, in the long term, provider networks may threaten the very existence of HMOs as they are now known.· Wider reality would threaten their existence.· In other words, failure on one new project could threaten the very existence of the company.· The thought of our own guilt threatens our very existence.
· Large numbers of rare and beautiful Alpine plants are threatened with extinction.· Several equally renowned eating places such as Drouant are also threatened with extinction.· When this happens it can dramatically slash profits - and can even threaten a business with extinction.· Most of this trade is legal and involves species not threatened with extinction, although conservationists feel better controls are needed.· The large numbers of wild orchids being traded threatens some species with extinction.· And these prized woods come from special trees, many of them threatened with extinction.· There are between 80,000 and 100,000 species of trees, of which 8,000 are threatened with extinction.
· The expansion of citizen participation is greatly threatened today by government secrecy, industrial monopolies, and a closed media.· Leading the rise were the prices of privatisation shares which would have been threatened by a Labour government.· In 1995, Major again appeared to be a political goner when inner-party squabbling threatened to bring his government down.· The crisis surrounding the tunnel threatens to embarrass the Government, which insisted it be financed entirely by the private sector.
· Untenured and part-time instructors are especially vulnerable, because low evaluation scores can threaten their jobs.· Besides, how do you expect to get good people if you threaten their job security every 54 years? 2.· The Shadow Agriculture Minister says privatisation would be a scandal and could threaten jobs in the timber industry.· It's been claimed the cut in spending threatens up to 400 jobs.· All three are threatening job cuts.
· Lohr also charged that Medtronic failed to warn her or her doctors that the device could experience life-threatening failure.· In many cancers, such as skin cancer, the original tumour itself is not life-threatening.· I have had my life threatened.· They say the chance to turn their lives around is being threatened by cuts to the centre's funding.· None of the injuries was life threatening.· Yet the experience is unlikely to be life-threatening for the banks.· The immune system withers under the viral attack, leaving the body extremely vulnerable to other painful and life-threatening diseases.
· It is received with fear; for it threatens that comforting security and certainty which hitherto have shaped our actions.· Besides, how do you expect to get good people if you threaten their job security every 54 years? 2.· And that threatened the security of a little boy racing across holiday meadows, laughing with happiness.· The defendants were found guilty of plotting to overthrow the monarchy and threatening the security of the state.· Does it enhance or threaten our security or is it of no consequence to us?· Both have pursued strategies to prevent the domination of their respective continents by any state that could threaten their security.· If it threatens our security we feel things like fear or anger.· As in Out, the invasions operated by metaphor both subvert authority and threaten personal security.
· To do so would have threatened the stability of Franco's position and was, therefore, out of the question.· The nether side of meaning, the storehouse of representations that do not fit the current Symbolic order, threatens this stability.· Unconstrained elite dissensus threatens political stability under certain specific conditions.· Urban pressure for leisure access to the countryside also threatens the ecological stability of many areas.· It is not your job to worry about whether you threaten the stability of the world economy.· Walesa's critics had accused him of dangerous populism which threatened political and economic stability.
· No one should be subjected to verbal harassment, just as no one should be threatened with physical violence.· In general, elite settlements stem from long periods of conflict and crises that threaten to rekindle widespread violence.· Unlawful violence A person who threatens lawful violence can not be convicted under this section.· Several vessels have already travelled to the area to help people threatened by the violence.· Once Jonadab had threatened physical violence, the son realised that he was more than a match for his ageing parent.
VERB· I felt threatened by him because I used to play up front, so I decided to show him who was boss.· These young men do not feel threatened at work.· However, when both have felt threatened by developments in the Middle East they have demonstrated their ability to work together.· Arancibia said he punched the teen because he felt threatened.· They feel threatened by the two alternative prospects - move or take redundancy.· He will sense her restlessness and feel threatened.· For example, the salesforce may feel threatened by a proposal for a web-based sales site.· Those who feel threatened band together.
WORD FAMILYnounthreatadjectivethreateningverbthreatenadverbthreateningly
1[transitive] to say that you will cause someone harm or trouble if they do not do what you want: Postal workers are threatening a strike if they don’t receive a pay increase.threaten to do something He threatened to take them to court.threaten somebody with something Doctors are sometimes threatened with violence if they don’t do what patients want.threaten (that) Then he became angry and threatened that he would go to the police.2[transitive] to be likely to harm or destroy something: Poaching threatens the survival of the rhino.threaten to do something The incident threatens to ruin his chances in the election.be threatened with something Large areas of the jungle are now threatened with destruction.3[intransitive, transitive] to be likely to happen or be in a bad situation: Britain’s fishing industry remains threatened. Dark clouds threatened rain.