threat

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (1)  · 
“
How any one with an IQ over 100 could construe that as a threat is mystifying.

View all »
Definitions (17)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun An expression of an intention to inflict pain, injury, evil, or punishment.
  2. noun An indication of impending danger or harm.
  3. noun One that is regarded as a possible danger; a menace.
1 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (7)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • How any one with an IQ over 100 could construe that as a threat is mystifying. —  The Jawa Report
  • But this threat is as irrelevant today as it ever was. —  Kathimerini English Edition : Print Edition : 26/6/09
  • For that we must put the blame squarely at the foot of our debased educational system and for that we must understand the threat is the result of the deliberately dumbing down of the system by the teacher's unions. —  The Reality Check
  • Antony Lerman: How serious a threat is antisemitism? —  The Guardian World News
  • Five police officers, two of them off-duty, were wounded in separate gun and bomb attacks in Londonderry, Dungannon, Co Tyrone, near Castlederg, also Tyrone, and not far from Roslea, Co Fermanagh, where the threat has been at its highest. —  The Australian | News |
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 134 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

danger ·  risk ·  attack ·  violence ·  possibility ·  challenge ·  force ·  weapon ·  situation ·  impact ·  disaster ·  conflict

Used in the same contextWord Family

threat:   threats
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English thrēat, oppression; see treud- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English thret, threte, thræt, thrat, threat, from Anglo-Saxon threát, a crowd, troop, pressure, trouble, calamity, threat (= Icelandic thraut, trouble, labor), from threótan (preterit threát, past participle throten), urge, afflict, vex, in comp. ā-threótan, impersonal, vex, = Dutch ver-drieten, vex, = Old High German *driozan, in comp. bi-driozan (Middle High German bedriezen), irdriozan (Middle High German er-driezen), Middle High German ver-driezen, German ver-driessen, impersonal, vex, annoy, = Icelandic thrjōta, impersonal, fail, = Danish fortryde, vex, repent, = Gothic (Moesogothic) *thriutan, in us-thriutan (= Anglo-Saxon ā-threótan), trouble, vex, = Latin trudere, push, shove, crowd, thrust out, press, urge (later trudis, a pole to push with), = Old Bulgarian truzda, vex, plague (trudŭ, trouble). From the same verb or its compounds are the nouns Icelandic throt, want, Middle High German urdruz, urdrütze, vexation, verdruz, German verdruss (= Danish fortræd), vexation, trouble. Hence threat, v., threaten. Cf. thrust. From the L. verb are ult. English extrude, intrude, protrude, etc., trusion, extrusion, etc.
  2. from Middle English threten, from Anglo-Saxon threátian, press, oppress, repress, correct, threaten (= Middle Dutch droten, threaten), from threát, pressure: see threat, n. Cf. threaten.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/θrɛt/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a day.

Recently looked up

RODRIGUEZ · zounds · rectify · change-up · bitchiness

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

qualms · poofter · oh for heaven's sake · embodies · silence