threatening

• threatning (obsolete)

From threaten +‎ -ing.

• enPR: thrĕt′ənĭŋ, IPA^(key): /ˈθɹɛt.n̩.ɪŋ/
• Hyphenation: threat‧en‧ing

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threatening

1. present participle of threaten

threatening (comparative more threatening, superlative most threatening)

1. Presenting a threat; menacing; frightening.

   Never turn your back to someone who is displaying threatening behavior.

threatening (plural threatenings)

1. An act of threatening; a threat.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts IV:

     And nowe lorde beholde their threatenynges, and graunte unto thy servauntes wyth all confydence to speake thy worde.

   • Charles Dickens, Pincher Astray

     The butcher's boy — a fierce and beefy youth, who openly defied the dog, and waved him off with hurlings of his basket and threatenings of his feet, accompanied by growls of "Git out, yer beast!" — now entered silently […]