as in to endanger
to remain poised to inflict harm, danger, or distress on
the powerful hurricane continues to threaten the southern coastline
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of threaten
New York has a proud history of environmental stewardship, which is now threatened.
—
Anshul Gupta, New York Daily News, 7 Jan. 2026
Cinema United argued that the consolidation threatens to reduce the number of movies released theatrically and increase the leverage of studios in exhibition negotiations.
—Ted Johnson, Deadline, 7 Jan. 2026
Boston Dynamics leaders said the Atlas robots don’t have enough dexterity to threaten many human jobs.
—Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 7 Jan. 2026
Advertisement President Theodore Roosevelt, not long thereafter, introduced what would later be known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine after European creditors of a number of Latin American countries threatened to use armed intervention to collect debts.
—Nandika Chatterjee, Time, 7 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for threaten
Anshul Gupta, New York Daily News, 7 Jan. 2026
Cinema United argued that the consolidation threatens to reduce the number of movies released theatrically and increase the leverage of studios in exhibition negotiations.
—Ted Johnson, Deadline, 7 Jan. 2026
Boston Dynamics leaders said the Atlas robots don’t have enough dexterity to threaten many human jobs.
—Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 7 Jan. 2026
Advertisement President Theodore Roosevelt, not long thereafter, introduced what would later be known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine after European creditors of a number of Latin American countries threatened to use armed intervention to collect debts.
—Nandika Chatterjee, Time, 7 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for threaten
Recent Examples of Synonyms for threaten
Verb
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Despite Sismanis’ prior record, the town approved the license renewal, the lawsuit alleges, endangering the female minors Sismanis often hired.—
Bonny Chu,
FOXNews.com,
16 Jan. 2026
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The Asiatic cheetah is currently considered critically endangered, with only one small wild population remaining in Iran.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
15 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The Chinese, too, are absolutely shocked that a great power is menacing a small neighbor and inflicting regime change by military force.—
Tom Nichols,
The Atlantic,
3 Jan. 2026
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As the two catch up, Crudup veers from good-natured to sorrowful to bitter to menacing in a matter of minutes.—
Jenelle Riley,
Variety,
2 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Threaten.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/threaten. Accessed 18 Jan. 2026.
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