Unconditional threat
Definition
A threat that signals harm without specifying a condition. The harm is framed as certain or likely without reference to what the recipient does. Unconditional threats tend to be interpreted as more alarming precisely because there is no action the recipient can take to prevent the harm.
Related terms
- Conditional threat
- A threat whose harm is contingent on a specified triggering event or the recipient's behaviour. 'If you go to the police, you...
- Direct versus indirect threat
- A direct threat explicitly names the harm, the sender, and the target. An indirect threat achieves the same communicative effect through implication,...
- Expressive anger
- Language that vents strong negative emotion using threat vocabulary without a genuine instrumental intent to act on the harm named. The phrase...
- Threat (linguistic definition)
- A speech act in which the speaker signals an intention to carry out harmful action against the recipient, with or without a...
- WAVR21
- Workplace Assessment of Violence Risk, 21-factor version. A structured threat-assessment tool used in occupational and institutional settings that integrates language analysis with...
Explained in
- Threatening Language: Taxonomy and AnalysisA threat that signals harm without specifying a condition. The harm is framed as certain or likely without reference to what the recipient does. Unconditional...