What does threaten mean in English?

You can learn threaten Pronunciation, Grammar & Synonyms in this most authoritative English Dictionary.

threaten Meaning, Definition, Pronunciation, Grammar & Synonyms❤️

0 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.
- Changing patterns of agriculture are threatening the countryside.
- Look at those clouds! There's a storm threatening.
1 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!
2 to warn of something unpleasant or unwanted:
- She threatened legal action against the newspaper.
- Because of continuing drought, millions are threatened with starvation.

Greenpeace works to promote awareness of the dangers that threaten our planet today.
Britain threatened to break off diplomatic relations.
A masked robber threatened the bank staff with a gun.
They threatened to blow up the plane if their demands were not met.
She's threatening to take me to court for not paying the bill on time.
The restriction imposed by the statute here threatens severe impairment of the judicial function.
Marcus in his speech uses rhetorical means to release emotion that the initial shocking sight threatened to freeze.
After 1921, even this minimum standard was threatened when the government responded to employers' complaints by cutting back on the number of new trade boards.