empty threats
Bark without bite
Empty threats are warnings of consequences that the speaker has no intention or ability to carry out.
The phrase emphasizes the gap between what someone says they'll do and what they'll actually do: His threats to quit were empty threats—he needed the job too badly.
Parents learn that empty threats undermine their authority with children.
- warningsAdvance notices of danger
- baselessLacking factual support
- bluffCalculated false front
- bravadoPretense of fearlessness
- unfoundedWithout factual support
idle · posturing · paper tiger · toothless · hollow · blowing smoke · ineffectiveness · weakness · threatens · menace · tough talk · huffing · manipulation · intimidation · scare tactics · crying wolf · barks · saber-rattling
- egoego, egoism, big ego, egotism, egocentrism
empty threatspower moves
Actions asserting dominance
nuclear options · teeth · muscle · hard power
empty, threat, threats, emptied, empties, emptying, emptiness, emptier, emptiest