Crossword clues for threaten
threaten
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Threaten \Threat"en\, v. i. To use threats, or menaces; also, to have a threatening appearance.
Though the seas threaten, they are merciful.
--Shak.
Threaten \Threat"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Threatened; p. pr. & vb. n. Threatening.] [OE. [thorn]retenen. See Threat, v. t.]
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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.
--Acts iv. 17. -
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.
--Milton.The skies look grimly And threaten present blusters.
--Shak.Syn: To menace.
Usage: 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.
--Prior.Of the sharp ax Regardless, that o'er his devoted head Hangs menacing.
--Somerville.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 13c., "attempt to influence by menacing," from Old English þreatnian "to threaten" (see threat). Related: Threatened. Threatening in the sense of "portending no good" is recorded from 1520s.
Wiktionary
vb. To make a threat against someone; to use threats.
WordNet
v. pose a threat to; present a danger to; "The pollution is endangering the crops" [syn: endanger, jeopardize, jeopardise, menace, imperil, peril]
to utter intentions of injury or punishment against:"He threatened me when I tried to call the police"
to be a menacing indication of something:"The clouds threaten rain"; "Danger threatens"
Wikipedia
Usage examples of "threaten".
Pope Adrian threatens them with a sentence of excommunication unless they speedily abjure this practical heresy.
Sometimes Kellhus seemed such an abomination that the gulf between Scylvendi and Inrithi threatened to disappearparticularly where Proyas was concerned.
Then all the satisfaction she had derived from what she had heard Madame Bourdieu say departed, and she went off furious and ashamed, as if soiled and threatened by all the vague abominations which she had for some time felt around her, without knowing, however, whence came the little chill which made her shudder as with dread.
Such abridgment, Black believed, in itself outweighed the injury with which the public might be threatened.
On the notice that Eugenius had fulminated a bull for that purpose, they ventured to summon, to admonish, to threaten, to censure the contumacious successor of St.
FELLOW-CITIZENS:--When the General Assembly, now about adjourning, assembled in November last, from the bankrupt state of the public treasury, the pecuniary embarrassments prevailing in every department of society, the dilapidated state of the public works, and the impending danger of the degradation of the State, you had a right to expect that your representatives would lose no time in devising and adopting measures to avert threatened calamities, alleviate the distresses of the people, and allay the fearful apprehensions in regard to the future prosperity of the State.
In the meantime we may follow the unhappy fortunes of the small column which had, as already described, been sent out by Sir George White in order, if possible, to prevent the junction of the two Boer armies, and at the same time to threaten the right wing of the main force, which was advancing from the direction of Dundee, Sir George White throughout the campaign consistently displayed one quality which is a charming one in an individual, but may be dangerous in a commander.
Because representations attack it at what we call the affective phase and cause a resulting experience, a disturbance, to which disturbance is joined the image of threatened evil: this amounts to an affection and Reason seeks to extinguish it, to ban it as destructive to the well-being of the Soul which by the mere absence of such a condition is immune, the one possible cause of affection not being present.
Usually, she enjoyed getting lost in a throng of art aficionados, eavesdropping on the various off-the-cuff critiques, but just then, the crowd loomed like a threatening swarm.
Even if Saddam intended only to threaten Kuwait, he should have recognized that such a demonstration of recidivist aggression would only ensure that the sanctions were maintained even longer, which is in fact what happened.
By the 29th he was across the Ailette and threatening to turn the whole German position south of the Somme at Chauny.
Unless we can wipe them all out before dusk our airfield will be threatened by nightfall.
How little is required to turn our troopers into excellent foot soldiers was shown at Magersfontein, where the 12th Lancers, dismounted by the command of their colonel, Lord Airlie, held back the threatened flank attack all the morning.
Paen said, gritting his teeth against the pain that threatened to swamp him at the thought of what the alastor was saying.
Grinning fiercely and showering each other with blistering insults, they battled around the confines of the cave, leaping over the fire pit and threatening to trample Alec underfoot until he wisely retreated to the narrow crevice at the back.