Promising
Promising adjective - Pointing toward a happy outcome.
Usage example: all the signs for the new business are promising
Threatening is an antonym for promising.
Threatening
Threatening adjective - Being or showing a sign of evil or calamity to come.
Usage example: a threatening silence followed the loud thump in the adjoining motel room
Promising is an antonym for threatening.
Both words in one sentence
-
He goes to Pilatus and turns his glass of wine into water, threatening to do the same with all his wine unless he gives him his help, and promising he'll give him back his wine and more if he does.
Source: Jesus Was Way Cool - Step by Step used this trope a lot, though often inverted in that Carol was far more fond of promising lots of sex if she got her way, than she was of threatening to withhold it if she didn't.
Source: Lysistrata Gambit -
Instrument of Murder: Teriyaki Yoko attempts this in the Japan/Europe version of Stage 6 by picking up Lammy's guitar and threatening to kill her, believing her to be Rammy, before hearing that Lammy has already died and promising to bring her back on the condition that Lammy "play right".
Source: Video Game / UmJammer Lammy
Cite this Source
Threatening and Promising. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 07, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/promising/threatening
Promising & Threatening. N.p., 2016. Web. 07 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/promising/threatening>.
Threatening or Promising. 2016. Accessed August 07, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/promising/threatening.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "promising" and "threatening" have occurred on timeline