threaten
verb
Simple meaning
To menace, or be dangerous.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
threhtuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈθɹɛtən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Pose a threat to; present a danger to
To make a threat against someone; to use threats.
To menace, or be dangerous.
To call into question the validity of (a belief, idea, or viewpoint); to challenge.
figuratively
To be close to equaling or surpassing (a record, etc.)
To portend, or give a warning of.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Pose a threat to; present a danger to
Used this way, threaten is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use threaten
- “He threatened me when I tried to call the police.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The appearance of symptoms that signal the impending loss of the products of conception.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.