Under Threat

SheltieBites"He signed the contract under threat of his life."
"He signed the contract under threat to his life."

Could the first one be wrong?

Very doubtful. Both are used.

CJ

Do they mean the same?

SheltieBitesDo they mean the same?

They do to me. Yes.

CJ

1 "He signed the contract under threat of violence."
2 "He signed the contract under threat of his life."
3 "He signed the contract under threat of violence to his life."

In 1), violence could be done to him. In 2), there seems to be some ambiguity as to what could happen to his life. Could 3) be a better version of 2)?

http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/threat

According to sense 2b in the dictionary, "under threat of" suggests the possibility of something bad. "Violence" is something bad, but one's own life is not something bad. Something else must be done to one's life to be a threat.

In:

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http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/threat
According to sense 2b in the dictionary, "under threat of" suggests the possibility of something bad. "Violence" is something bad, but one's own life i

SheltieBites1 "He signed the contract under threat of violence."2 "He signed the contract under threat of his life."3 "He signed the contract under threat of violence to his life."In 1), violence could be done to him. In 2), there seems to be some ambiguity as to what could happen to his life. Could 3) be a better version of 2)?

Yes. 3) is a paraphrase of 2)

SheltieBitesAccording to sense 2b in the dictionary, "under threat of" suggests the possibility of something bad. "Violence" is something bad, but one's own life is not something bad. Something else must be done to one's life to be a threat.

In:

"under threat of violence"

violence = threat. But in:

"under threat of his life"