different between threatening vs deadly

English

Alternative forms

• threatning (obsolete)

Etymology

From threaten +? -ing.

Pronunciation

• enPR: thr?t??n??, IPA^(key): /????t.n?.??/
• Hyphenation: threat?en?ing

Verb

threatening

1. present participle of threaten

Adjective

threatening (comparative more threatening, superlative most threatening)

1. Presenting a threat; menacing; frightening.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

threatening (countable and uncountable, plural threatenings)

1. An act of threatening; a threat.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts IV:

     And nowe lorde beholde their threatenynges, and graunte unto thy servauntes wyth all confydence to speake thy worde.

   • 1859-1895, Charles Dickens, All the Year Round

     The butcher's boy — a fierce and beefy youth, who openly defied the dog, and waved him off with hurlings of his basket and threatenings of his feet, accompanied by growls of "Git out, yer beast!" — now entered silently […]

English

Etymology

From Middle English dedly, dedlych, dedlich, from Old English d?adl?? (adjective); corresponding to dead +? -ly. Cognate with Dutch dodelijk, German tödlich.

The adverb is from Middle English dedliche, from Old English d?adl??e (adverb), from the adjective.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?d.li/

Adjective

deadly (comparative deadlier or more deadly, superlative deadliest or most deadly)

1. (obsolete, rare) Subject to death; mortal.
2. Causing death; lethal.
3. Aiming or willing to destroy; implacable; desperately hostile.
4. Very accurate (of aiming with a bow, firearm, etc.).
5. (informal) Very boring.
6. (informal) Excellent, awesome, cool.

Usage notes

In Australia, the sense "excellent, awesome, cool" is especially used by, or in connection with, Indigenous Australians.

Derived terms

• deadliness
• deadly sin

Translations

Adverb

deadly (comparative more deadly, superlative most deadly)

1. (obsolete) Fatally, mortally.
2. In a way which suggests death.

3. Extremely, incredibly.

Usage notes

Some adjectives commonly collocating with deadly: serious, clever, good

Derived terms

• fail-deadly

Translations

Related terms

• dead