threatened
part of speech
verb form (threaten, threatens, threatened, threatening); adjective (threatened)
meaning for a pupil
1) Threatened is the past form of threaten: someone said they would do something bad to you. tree →
2) Threatened (adjective) means feeling in danger or unsafe. tree →
3) A threatened animal or plant is in danger of dying out. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons, «threatened species» are animals and plants at risk because of hunting, pollution or habitat loss, like some kinds of turtles and koalas. In wellbeing and safety lessons, if you feel threatened, you should move to a safe place and tell an adult. In stories, a threatened character may run, hide or fight back.
examples
- The bully threatened him at the bus stop. tree →
- I felt threatened, so I went inside. tree →
- Tigers are a threatened species. tree →
- The town was threatened by floods. tree →
- A threatened cat arches its back and hisses. tree →
- She threatened to tell the teacher. tree →
- Many frogs are threatened by disease. tree →
- Tell an adult if you ever feel threatened. tree →
- He threatened to beat her if she did not hold her tongue. tree →
note
Past form and past participle of «threaten»; also an adjective. «Threatened» and «endangered» are close: scientists use «threatened» as a wider group that includes endangered species. «Feel threatened» means feel in danger.
In the corpora
- Sadly, more than a quarter of parrot kinds are threatened, mainly by forest loss and by people catching them as pets.
- Move away slowly from a bee and do not swat it, because bees sting only when they feel threatened.
- Shopkeepers, teachers on duty and other grown-ups can help children who feel followed or threatened.
- Fear after being chased or threatened is the body doing its job; hiding it alone usually makes it grow.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «threatened» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.