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Threat
Definitions
- 1 A surname.
- 1 An expression of intent to injure or punish another.
"There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats."
- 2 declaration of an intention or a determination to inflict harm on another wordnet
- 3 An indication of potential or imminent danger.
"Verifying and addressing actual threats is not paranoia."
- 4 a warning that something unpleasant is imminent wordnet
- 5 A person or object that is regarded as a danger; a menace.
"Rooney's United team-mate Chris Smalling was given his debut at right-back and was able to adjust to the international stage in relatively relaxed fashion as Bulgaria barely posed a threat of any consequence."
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- 6 a person who inspires fear or dread wordnet
- 7 something that is a source of danger wordnet
- 1 To press; urge; compel. transitive
- 2 To threaten. archaic, transitive
"An hideous Geant horrible and hye, / That with his talnesse seemd to threat the skye […]"
- 3 To use threats; act or speak menacingly; threaten. intransitive
Etymology
From Middle English threte, thret, thrat, thræt, threat, from Old English þrēat (“crowd, swarm, troop, army, press; pressure, trouble, calamity, oppression, force, violence, threat”), from Proto-Germanic *þrautaz, closely tied to Proto-Germanic *þrautą (“displeasure, complaint, grievance, labour, toil”), from Proto-Indo-European *trewd- (“to squeeze, push, press”), whence also Middle Low German drōt (“threat, menace, danger”), Middle High German drōz (“annoyance, disgust, horror, terror, fright”), Icelandic þraut (“struggle, labour, distress”), Russian труд (trud, “work, labour”), Polish trud (“hard work”), Latin trūdō (“push”, verb).
From Middle English threten, from Old English þrēatian (“to press, oppress, repress, correct, threaten”). Akin to Middle Dutch drōten (“to threaten”).
See also for "threat"
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