How to Use threaten in a Sentence

threaten

verb

• The mugger threatened him with a gun.
• She threatened to quit if they didn't give her a raise, but no one believed her.
• Civil war has been threatening the country for years.
• The latest news threatens trouble for the economy.
• Overfishing threatens the survival of certain fish species.
• Later in the episode, Spears got emotional again and threatened to quit the show.
  — Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 22 Nov. 2023
• When a guard threatened to shoot, the group backed off and Ms. Stafford felt her resolve deflate.
  — Lynsey Chutel Gulshan Khan, New York Times, 11 Nov. 2023
• But there are some risks that threaten De Haan’s outlook.
  — Krystal Hur, CNN, 28 May 2023
• That sounds like a lot, but the sum so far has not appeared to threaten U.S. economic growth.
  — Fatima Hussein, Fortune, 3 Jan. 2024
• Then there is the island itself, shaped by the seasons and threatened by the hostile nature.
  — Annika Pham, Variety, 13 Nov. 2023
• When disaster threatens, her new friends — a pile of rocks, a rabbit, a cactus, the motel desk clerks— save the day.
  — Staff Author, Peoplemag, 26 Sep. 2023
• Basha threatened to open things in the bottom of the fifth inning after Aniyah Jaiman’s base hit drove in Garcia, giving the Bears a 3-0 lead.
  — Ben Stapley, The Arizona Republic, 16 May 2023
• Evers threatened to veto the entire budget over the DEI cuts.
  — The Editors, National Review, 18 Dec. 2023
• Right to Life group revoked its endorsement of him and threatened to do the same to any lawmaker who backed his bill.
  — Kate Zernike, New York Times, 17 Dec. 2023
• This morning the war threatens to expand as Israel exchanged strikes with Hezbollah in the north.
  — Nbc Universal, NBC News, 8 Oct. 2023
• The Huskies threatened to finish with more offensive rebounds than the Aztecs had in total.
  — Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Mar. 2024
• When a bird flu epidemic starts threatening the farm, they are forced to rise above conflict and heal old wounds.
  — Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 30 Oct. 2023
• The bandits threatened that if players were hiding money, their legs would be blown off.
  — Michael S. Rosenwald, Washington Post, 16 May 2023
• Police said Bell threatened the guard’s life if the tellers didn’t open the security door.
  — Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2024
• Her son and his fiancée, who had been scheduled to testify in a murder trial, were threatened by the suspects and killed in 2005.
  — Audra D. S. Burch, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2023
• During the hostage ordeal, Hamas threatened to kill the captives one by one and film the executions if their demands were not met.
  — Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, 20 Oct. 2023
• Draymond Green’s punch of Jordan Poole threatened the very fabric of the Warriors culture.
  — Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 17 May 2023
• Strong currents and large debris can threaten the safety of pleasure craft during high flows, the agency said in the release.
  — The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, arkansasonline.com, 15 Mar. 2024
• The man was found to be wearing a fake police badge and had apparently sent hundreds of emails threatening Kennedy.
  — Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Jan. 2024
• People are threatening him on the internet, and everyone knows where this house is thanks to the news coverage.
  — Christina Coulter, Fox News, 28 Jan. 2024
• Southern states had always threatened this as an option.
  — Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 31 July 2023
• Cal Fire was alerted to the blaze just before 11:30 a.m., Capt. Brent Pascua said, adding that there were no reported injuries and no structures are threatened.
  — City News Service, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Nov. 2023
• Rombach, who led the team, had been angling to leave for months, two sources said, first threatening to resign last summer because of the fundraising failures.
  — Kenrick Cai, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
• But Delta customers pushed back, and some frequent flyers threatened to take their business elsewhere.
  — Cara Tabachnick, CBS News, 19 Oct. 2023
• Houthi militants have threatened or taken hostage mariners from more than 20 countries.
  — TIME, 17 Jan. 2024

Last Updated: 7 May 2024