threatening
threat·en·ing/ˈθɹɛtə.nɪŋ/adjective, noun, verb
threatening is spelled T-H-R-E-A-T-E-N-I-N-G: 11 letters and 3 syllables (threat·en·ing). It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, threatening means “Presenting a threat, posing a likely risk of harm” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in threatening?
| Letters | 11: T-H-R-E-A-T-E-N-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: threat·en·ing |
| In writing | 15 times per million words; the 5,206th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is threatening?
Threatening appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce threatening?
- /ˈθɹɛtə.nɪŋ/
- /ˈθɹɛt.nɪŋ/
- /ˈθɹɛt.n̩.ɪŋ/
Threatening has 3 syllables, split threat·en·ing in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-threatening.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of threatening
- more threatening comparative
- most threatening superlative
- threatning
- threatenings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does threatening mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Presenting a threat, posing a likely risk of harm.
Never turn your back to someone who is displaying threatening behavior.
- 2
Making threats, making statements about a willingness to cause harm.
noun
- 1
An act of threatening; a threat.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of threaten
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Threatening in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense presenting a threat:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does threatening come from?
From Middle English thretenyng, þreteninde, equivalent to threaten + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).