脅す

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 脅す (おどす) is a transitive verb for frightening someone with threatened harm or intimidating conduct.
• Basic usage: 相手を脅した threatens a particular person with disclosure of a secret, while 人を脅す行為 is a relative clause describing conduct that intimidates people by shouting.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Threat content and threatened person
  • 秘密を話すと supplies the content used for the threat, while the threatened person is 相手を. In the second example, shouting is likewise the means, not the object of 脅す.