Basic Details
Word: Threatened
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Past tense of threaten: said you would cause harm or trouble, or seemed likely to bring danger. A threatened animal is at risk of dying out.
Synonyms: menaced, endangered, warned
Antonyms: protected, safeguarded
How to Spell Threatened
Syllables: threat - ened
Tricky part: The ea sounds like the short e in bed, so it often loses its a (thretened). The middle e of threaten also gets dropped (threatned).
Watch out for: thretened, threatned, threatend
Memory tip: Find eat inside: thr-EAT-ened. A hungry tiger threatened to eat the goat. Then keep both e's of -en-ed.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Dark clouds threatened rain all through the school picnic.
Example 2: The great Indian bustard is one of the most threatened birds in the country.
Example 3: The bully threatened to tear up Arjun's notebook, so Arjun told the teacher.
Fun Fact
Conservation scientists sort threatened species into three groups: vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
threatenned
a) a
b) n
c) t
d) e
Show answer
b) n. Threaten is stressed on its first syllable, so the n is not doubled when -ed is added.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word threatened as used in the sentence:
The tiny island is threatened by the rising sea.
a) protected
b) menaced
c) endangered
d) harmed
Show answer
a) protected. An island at risk is endangered or menaced; one kept safe from the sea is protected.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence and choose the word they make:
The storm hdeanreett to flood the low fields near the river.
a) tightened
b) threatened
c) heartened
d) threaded
Show answer
b) threatened. Heartened has only one t, threaded has no n and tightened needs an i and a g, so threatened is the only word these letters make.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. An animal that is threatened with extinction ____.
a) has too many young ones
b) lives only in zoos
c) could die out completely
d) has just been discovered
Show answer
c) could die out completely
2. Threaten is built from which noun?
a) throat
b) threat
c) thread
d) treat
Show answer
b) threat
