Definition

1. Verb:
   • To threaten; to menace: To express an intention to cause harm, pain, or trouble to someone, or to create a sense of danger about something bad that might happen.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Hắn đe dọa sẽ báo cảnh sát. (He threatened to call the police.)
  • Bão lớn đang đe dọa bờ biển. (A major storm is threatening the coast.)
  • Đừng đe dọa tôi. (Don't threaten me.)

Advanced Usage

• "lời đe dọa": (noun phrase) a threat, a menace.
  • Những lời đe dọa đó rất nghiêm trọng. (Those threats are very serious.)
• Used in formal contexts to describe a looming danger or risk.
  • Ô nhiễm đe dọa sức khỏe cộng đồng. (Pollution threatens public health.)

Variants and Related Words

• Dọa (v): to scare, to frighten (often less severe or more immediate than "đe dọa").
  • Anh ấy thích dọa em gái. (He likes to scare his little sister.)
• Hăm dọa (v): to intimidate, to menace (similar meaning, can sound slightly more literary or forceful).
• Sự đe dọa (n): the threat, the menace.
  • Sự đe dọa từ khủng bố là có thật. (The threat from terrorism is real.)

Synonyms

• Threaten: To state an intention to harm.
• Menace: To pose a threat of danger; to be potentially harmful.
• Intimidate: To frighten someone, especially to make them do what you want.

Related Idioms

• Đe dọa tính mạng: to threaten someone's life.
  • Hành động của hắn đe dọa tính mạng người khác. (His actions threatened others' lives.)
• Vũ khí đe dọa hàng loạt: weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
  • Cộng đồng quốc tế lo ngại vũ khí đe dọa hàng loạt. (The international community is concerned about weapons of mass destruction.)

verb

1. to threaten; to menace