threaten

5 definitions • 8 examples

to tell someone that you will kill or hurt them or cause problems if they do not do what you want:

They threatened the shopkeeper with a gun.

[ + to infinitive ] They threatened to kill him unless he did as they asked.

to be likely to cause harm or damage to something or someone:

Changing patterns of agriculture are threatening the countryside.

If something bad threatens to happen, it is likely to happen:

Look at those clouds! There's a storm threatening.

to tell someone that you will hurt or harm him or her, esp. if the person does not do something in particular:

[ I ] They threatened to drop him from the team if he didn’t come to practice.

[ T ] Don’t threaten me!

to warn of something unpleasant or unwanted:

She threatened legal action against the newspaper.

Because of continuing drought, millions are threatened with starvation.