| / English Dictionary |
THREATENED
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(of flora or fauna) likely in the near future to become endangered
Example:
the spotted owl is a threatened species, not yet an endangered one
Classified under:
Similar:
vulnerable (susceptible to attack)
Domain category:
flora; plant; plant life ((botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Past simple / past participle of the verb threaten
Context examples:
Not only were they new to her, and contrary to her own beliefs, but she always felt in them germs of truth that threatened to unseat or modify her own convictions.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Dominants rarely tolerate rival breeders, and violently eject subordinates from the group if they feel threatened.
(Breeder meerkats age faster, but their subordinates still die younger, University of Cambridge)
By using a genetic tool called DNA barcoding, Brazilian researchers could help prevent illegal fishing of threatened shark species and hence help prevent the collapse of some fisheries.
(New way to save endangered sharks – and our seafood, SciDev.Net)
She talked to Elizabeth again and again; coaxed and threatened her by turns.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
I may have threatened her—God forgive me!—but I would not have touched a hair of her pretty head.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
These, in their turn, cursed back at the blind miscreant, threatened him in horrid terms, and tried in vain to catch the stick and wrest it from his grasp.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
I can't get a word from him, and when I threatened to shake the truth out of him he bolted upstairs and locked himself into his room.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Meantime, Mr. Rochester affirmed I was wearing him to skin and bone, and threatened awful vengeance for my present conduct at some period fast coming.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The wind was high, and the waves continually threatened the safety of my little skiff.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Tell an adult if any communication (chat, text, e-mail message) makes you feel threatened or uncomfortable.
(Internet Safety, NIH)
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