FromMiddle Englishthretenen, fromOld Englishþrēatnian(“to urge, force, compel”), equivalent tothreat +‎-en.

• enPR:thrĕt′n̩,IPA^(key):/ˈθɹɛt.n̩/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-ɛtn̩
• Hyphenation:threat‧en

threaten (third-person singular simple presentthreatens,present participlethreatening,simple past and past participlethreatened)

1. To make athreat against someone; to use threats.
   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e.,Emma Orczy], “The Hocussing of Cigarette”, inThe Case of Miss Elliott, London:T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published1905,→OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909,OCLC11192831, quoted inThe Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia:Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     No one, however, would have anything to do with him, as Mr. Keeson's orders in those respects were very strict ; he had oftenthreatened any one of hisemployés with instant dismissal if he found him in company with one of these touts.

   • 2022 August 13, Sarah Wu, David Kirton, Ben Blanchard, quotingTsai Ing-wen, “Taiwan thanks U.S. for maintaining security in Taiwan Strait”, in Tom Hogue, Michael Perry, William Mallard, editors,Reuters‎^[1], archived fromthe original on13 August 2022, World:

     "Taiwanese are very enthusiastic and love freedom and democracy, so many good international friends have come to Taiwan to support us. This is a normal and good thing, but Chinathreatens and intimidates Taiwan," she said.
     "However, I would like to reassure everyone that both our government and the military are prepared, and I will definitely take care of Taiwan."

   Hethreatened me with a knife.

2. Tomenace, or bedangerous.

   The rocksthreatened the ship's survival.

3. Toportend, or give awarning of.

   Antonym:promise

   The black cloudsthreatened heavy rain.

4. To call into question the validity of (a belief, idea, or viewpoint); to challenge.

   The new informationthreatened our original hypothesis.

   • 2019 January 26, Kevin Seybold, “Does ScienceThreaten Belief?”, inCathedral of Hope‎^[2]:
5. (figuratively) To be close to equaling or surpassing (a record, etc.)
   • 2000, Lew Freedman, Diamonds in the Rough: Baseball Stories from Alaska,→ISBN, page 69

     The player quickly surmised that things weren't kosher and the suddenly wiser ballplayerthreatened the world record for the fifty-yard dash as he sought safety. As Reynolds dived into the van, Dietz and the other players rolled with laughter.

• This is acatenative verb that takes theto infinitive. SeeAppendix:English catenative verbs

• forethreaten
• threatening
• threatensome