threatening

adjective

1. tending or intended to menace: threatening gestures.
2. causing alarm, as by being imminent; ominous; sinister: threatening clouds.

verb (used with object)

1. to utter a threat against; menace: He threatened the boy with a beating.
2. to be a menace or source of danger to: Sickness threatened her peace of mind.
3. to offer (a punishment, injury, etc.) by way of a threat: They threatened swift retaliation.
4. to give an ominous indication of: The clouds threaten rain.

verb (used without object)

5. to utter or use threats.
6. to indicate impending evil or mischief.

verb

1. (tr) to be a threat to
2. to be a menacing indication of (something); portenddark clouds threatened rain
3. (when tr, may take a clause as object) to express a threat to (a person or people)

v.Old English þreatnian (see threat). Related: Threatened. Threatening in the sense of “portending no good” is recorded from 1520s.