From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthreateningthreat‧en‧ing /ˈθretn-ɪŋ/ adjective 1 THREATENif someone’s behaviour is threatening, you believe they intend to harm you His voice sounded threatening. a threatening gesture2 if the sky or clouds are threatening, bad weather is likely a threatening thundercloud —threateningly adverb
Examples from the Corpus
threatening• I hummed a little tune, even as the ghosts gathered round me, silent and threatening.• Oxford's bowling was never threatening and looked rather ordinary when Glendenen and Parker began to hurry after a quiet first half-hour.• He was arrested for threatening behaviour and using abusive language.• These threatening contacts are of two kinds: the difficult and the sympathetic.• After Boro's only real threatening first-half attempt, Bernie Slaven shot across the face of the goal from an angle.• Avoid sudden or threatening movements around the birds.• Before the attack I'd received several threatening phone calls.• When an attachment has been formed, there is a person the baby can turn to in threatening situations.• threatening telephone calls• When taken collectively these acts signify a deeper, more threatening tendency.• "You listen to me!" he said in a threatening voice. 