Synonyms of threatening

threatening 1 of 2

adjective

ˈthret-niŋ 

1

as in impending

giving signs of immediate occurrence

economists warning of a threatening recession

Synonyms & Similar Words

• impending
• looming
• possible
• imminent
• approaching
• brewing
• coming
• around the corner
• future
• pending
• nearing
• probable
• inevitable
• upcoming
• menacing
• forthcoming
• predicted
• ominous
• gathering
• likely
• unavoidable
• oncoming
• near
• apocalyptic
• expected
• anticipated
• portentous
• foreseen
• awaited
• lowering

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• distant
• remote
• past
• eventual
• ultimate
• former
• far-off
• recent
• late
• bygone

2

as in ominous

being or showing a sign of evil or calamity to come

a threatening silence followed the loud thump in the adjoining motel room

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ominous
• sinister
• menacing
• darkening
• bleak
• dark
• lonely
• dire
• foreboding
• minatory
• ill
• somber
• portentous
• murky
• black
• inauspicious
• unfortunate
• depressing
• direful
• desolate
• baleful
• depressive
• unfavorable
• gray
• ill-boding
• doomy
• discouraging
• cold
• morbid
• dim
• troubled
• sullen
• morose
• gloomy
• cheerless
• dismal
• lonesome
• disheartening
• saturnine
• sepulchral
• chill
• funereal
• disconsolate
• lugubrious
• miserable
• elegiac
• malign
• dreary
• hopeless
• glum
• malignant
• unpropitious
• evil
• unpromising
• forlorn
• cloudy
• drear
• comfortless
• godforsaken
• unlucky
• plutonian
• wretched
• tenebrific
• tenebrous
• Cimmerian
• dreich
• ill-fated
• sunless
• ill-starred
• star-crossed

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• favorable
• promising
• encouraging
• benign
• unthreatening
• bright
• golden
• prosperous
• hopeful
• auspicious
• propitious
• heartening

3

as in dangerous

involving potential loss or injury

threatening rocks lined that narrow stretch of the river through which we would be rafting

Synonyms & Similar Words

• dangerous
• hazardous
• risky
• perilous
• serious
• menacing
• unsafe
• precarious
• treacherous
• unhealthy
• jeopardizing
• grave
• grievous
• venturesome
• random
• detrimental
• destructive
• parlous
• uncertain
• fatal
• harmful
• unpleasant
• chance
• adverse
• sickening
• insecure
• bad
• lethal
• deadly
• distressing
• injurious
• killer
• murderous
• fell
• dicey
• ugly
• malignant
• haphazard
• nasty
• pernicious
• evil
• hurtful
• deleterious
• wicked
• inimical
• ultrahazardous
• noxious
• dire
• ill
• baneful
• fateful
• baleful
• deathly
• mortal
• pestilent

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• safe
• harmless
• nonthreatening
• innocuous
• innocent
• beneficial
• good
• nonhazardous
• unthreatening
• advantageous
• ultrasafe

threatening

2 of 2

verb

present participle of threaten

as in menacing

to remain poised to inflict harm, danger, or distress on

the powerful hurricane continues to threaten the southern coastline

Synonyms & Similar Words

• menacing
• endangering
• hanging (over)
• hovering (over)
• impending (over)
• jeopardizing
• overhanging
• imperiling
• periling
• hazarding

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of threatening

Adjective

But a historian who has studied past responses to potentially threatening technology says AI development is a human choice, not inevitable, and compromise on regulation is possible. — Laina Gustafson, Christian Science Monitor, 17 Sep. 2026

However, Brighton got into the game and were the more threatening throughout as United continued to make errors as Charalampos Kostoulas pulled one back before half-time. — Chris McKenna, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2026

Verb

Regan has been accused of threatening and intimidating women who worked for the union’s parent organization, and of physically assaulting one, according to reporting by The Times. — Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2026

An early fall nor’easter is gathering strength along the central East Coast, pounding beaches in several states with heavy surf and threatening to bring coastal flooding, wind and rain to parts of the Northeast through the weekend. — Mary Gilbert, CNN Money, 24 Sep. 2026