ADJ
- dire, terrible
- Despite dire threats of violence from extremist groups, the protest passed off peacefully
- empty, idle
- The kids took no notice of the teacher's idle threats
- implied, veiled
- The company's pay offer was accompanied by thinly-veiled threats of redundancies if it was rejected
- explicit
- physical, violent
- verbal
- bomb, death, suicide
VERB + THREAT
- issue, make, utter
- receive
- carry out
- It's unwise to make threats that you cannot carry out
- lift, withdraw
- Teachers have lifted their threat of strike action
- reduce
- give in to
- The government refused to give in to the hijackers' threats
PREP
- ~ against
- The accused made death threats against a notable politician
ADJ
- big, considerable, dangerous, deadly, grave, great, major, real, serious, significant
- main
- growing, increasing
- constant, continual, continuous, ever-present, permanent
- renewed
- The national park is under renewed threat from road-building schemes
- direct, immediate, imminent
- The opposition presents no immediate threat to the government
- insidious
- long-term, short-term
- potential
- apparent, perceived
- external
- The government was faced with internal rebellion as well as external threats
- physical
- political
- environmental
- military, nuclear, terrorist
VERB + THREAT
- be, pose, present, represent
- the environmental threat posed by oil spillages
- consider sth (as), perceive sth as, regard sth as, see sth as, view sth as
- Translators do not yet perceive computers as a threat to their livelihood
- face, meet
PREP
- under ~
- Many wild plants are under threat of extinction
- ~ from
- the threat from overfishing
- ~ of
- a threat of violence
- ~ to
- The junta reacted violently to the perceived threat to its authority