threat

[thret] /θrɛt/

noun

a declaration of an intention or determination to inflict punishment, injury, etc., in retaliation for, or conditionally upon, some action or course; menace:

He confessed under the threat of imprisonment.

an indication or warning of probable trouble:

The threat of a storm was in the air.

a person or thing that threatens.

verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

Archaic. to threaten.

Origin

before 900; (noun) Middle English threte, Old English thrēat pressure, oppression; cognate with Old Norse thraut hardship, bitter end; (v.) Middle English threten, Old English thrēatian to press, threaten

Related forms

counterthreat, noun

Examples from the web for threat

There's also the threat of pathogens that could thrive in crowded pens and escape to harm natural fish populations.
Scientists knew that turbines posed a threat to birds, but nobody had predicted they'd be such a problem for bats.
The threat to his life's work could hardly have come at a worse moment.
Not even the threat of a cholera outbreak slowed his pace.
The threat perception to self preservation is checked first and the rest are ordained stochastically as per their significance.
On the other side are those who argue for a civilian response to the threat, focussed on a wider use of encryption.
By a wide margin, the biggest threat to our nation's balance sheet is the skyrocketing cost of health care.
The prospect of radiation introduced a threat all its own, as invisible as the tsunami was vivid, and throbbing with history.
Even a short walk on the street held the threat of an ugly brawl.
Innocuous as this may seem, it is the only commandment that comes with an inducement instead of an implied threat.

British Dictionary definitions for threat

threat

/θrɛt/

noun

a declaration of the intention to inflict harm, pain, or misery

an indication of imminent harm, danger, or pain

a person or thing that is regarded as dangerous or likely to inflict pain or misery

verb

an archaic word for threaten

Word Origin

Old English; related to Old Norse thraut, Middle Low German drōt

Word Origin and History for threat

Old English þreat "crowd, troop," also "oppression, menace," related to þreotan "to trouble, weary," from Proto-Germanic *threutanan (cf. German verdrießen "to vex"), from PIE *trud- "push, press" (cf. Latin trudere "to press, thrust," Old Church Slavonic trudu "oppression," Middle Irish trott "quarrel, conflict," M.Welsh cythrud "torture, torment, afflict"). Sense of "conditional declaration of hostile intention" was in Old English.

Idioms and Phrases with threat

threat

see: triple threat