life-threatening

adjective

Potentially fatal.

“The life-threatening illness caused him to be rushed to the hospital, where doctors worked around the clock to save his life.”

Meanings

adjectivelife-threatening (comparative more life-threatening, superlative most life-threatening)

comparative more life-threatening · superlative most life-threatening

  1. Potentially fatal.

    The life-threatening illness caused him to be rushed to the hospital, where doctors worked around the clock to save his life.

    2 more examples

    The MoD said the injured men received immediate medical attention and were evacuated by air to the military hospital at Camp Bastion, but three could not be saved. Next of kin have been informed. The other soldiers hurt are not thought to have life-threatening injures.

    2013 May 1, Nicholas Watt, Nick Hopkins, “Afghanistan bomb: UK to 'look carefully' at use of vehicles”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 30 Nov 2024

    Prosser's focus on mental health in particular also led him to the (sometimes) life-threatening ways this can affect all of us, whether we work on the railway or not. In 2020-21, there were 247 suicides or suspected suicides on the national network - that's one every 35 hours.

    2023 November 15, Ian Prosser talks to Stefanie Foster, “A healthy person is a more productive person”, in RAIL, number 996, page 36

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivecausing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*leyp-
  2. Proto-Germanic*lībaną
  3. Proto-Germanic*lībą
  4. Proto-West Germanic*līb
  5. Old Englishlīf
  6. Middle Englishlyf
  7. Englishlife
  8. Englishthreatening
  9. Englishlife-threatening

From life + threatening.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans lewensbedreigend, lewensgevaarlik
  • lewensbedreigendpotentially fatal
  • lewensgevaarlikpotentially fatal
Chinese Mandarin 危及生命的
  • 危及生命的 (wēijí shēngmìng de)potentially fatal
Danish livstruende
  • livstruendepotentially fatal
Dutch levensbedreigend, levensgevaarlijk
  • levensbedreigendpotentially fatal
  • levensgevaarlijkpotentially fatal
Esperanto vivminaca
  • vivminacapotentially fatal
Finnish hengenvaarallinen
  • hengenvaarallinenpotentially fatal
German lebensbedrohlich
  • lebensbedrohlichpotentially fatal
Hungarian életveszélyes
  • életveszélyespotentially fatal
Norwegian Bokmål livstruende
  • livstruendepotentially fatal
Polish zagrażający życiu
  • zagrażający życiupotentially fatal
Swedish livshotande
  • livshotandepotentially fatal
Tagalog buwis-buhay
  • buwis-buhaypotentially fatal
Cite this entry
APA

life-threatening. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/life-threatening

MLA

“life-threatening.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/life-threatening. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “life-threatening,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/life-threatening.

Source: life-threatening on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.