Rising sea levels threaten to flood coastal archaeological sites, potentially erasing millennia of human history.
不断上升的海平面威胁着沿海考古遗址，可能抹去数千年的人类历史。
- Rising temperatures and reduced rainfall on Socotra now threaten the tree's ability to reproduce successfully.
From a Rhetorical Synthesis question · Expression of Ideas
Which choice best defines “threaten”?
C — To say you will harm someone if they do not do what you want. “threaten” means to say you will harm someone if they do not do what you want.
Which word means “to say you will harm someone if they do not do what you want”?
D — threaten. “threaten” means to say you will harm someone if they do not do what you want.
threaten — to say you will harm someone if they do not do what you want. In Chinese: 威胁.
threaten is pronounced /ˈθrɛtən/.
Rising sea levels threaten to flood coastal archaeological sites, potentially erasing millennia of human history. (不断上升的海平面威胁着沿海考古遗址，可能抹去数千年的人类历史。)
menace, intimidate, endanger — all close in meaning to threaten (to say you will harm someone if they do not do what you want).
protect, safeguard — each the opposite of threaten (to say you will harm someone if they do not do what you want).
Yes. threaten is on the SAT Prep Basic list — the everyday academic words the SAT assumes you already have. The Digital SAT does not test vocabulary in isolation; words like this one are tested through Words in Context questions, where you choose the word that completes a passage most logically and precisely.