paper tiger
Toothless seeming menace
A paper tiger is something that appears threatening but is actually harmless or ineffectual.
The phrase comes from Chinese, where it describes an enemy or obstacle that seems formidable but lacks real power: The new regulations turned out to be a paper tiger—no one enforces them.
Often used to dismiss threats as empty bluster.
Having no teeth
- impotentLacking power or efficacy
- ineffectualFailing to achieve purpose
- harmlessCausing no injury
- powerlessLacking strength or authority
feeble · hollow · empty · insubstantial · nonthreatening · inconsequential · vulnerable · fragile
False outward appearance
- pretenseDeceptive outward show
- charadeAbsurd or obvious pretense
- posturingInsincere behavior for effect
- blusterLoud, empty boasting
bravado · smokescreen · sham · show · feint · puffery · masquerade · dissimulation
Source of potential harm
- threatIndication of potential harm
- specterGhostly threatening presence
- coercionPressured compliance through threats
- bullyingAggressive repeated intimidation
deterrence · scare tactics · fear-mongering · pressure · strongarm · bluffing · browbeating · posing
- Cold WarProlonged East-West standoff
- imperialismExtending dominion over others
- agitpropPolitical art for causes
- sloganeeringReliance on pithy phrases
rhetoric · demagoguery · ideological · political · revolutionary · communist · dialectic · polemical
toothless
Having no teeth
- impotentLacking power or efficacy
- ineffectualFailing to achieve purpose
- harmlessCausing no injury
powerless · feeble · hollow · empty · insubstantial · nonthreatening · inconsequential · vulnerable · fragile · flimsy
façade
False outward appearance
- pretenseDeceptive outward show
- charadeAbsurd or obvious pretense
- posturingInsincere behavior for effect
bluster · bravado · smokescreen · sham · show · feint · puffery · masquerade · dissimulation · artifice
menace
Source of potential harm
- threatIndication of potential harm
- specterGhostly threatening presence
- coercionPressured compliance through threats
bullying · deterrence · scare tactics · fear-mongering · pressure · strongarm · bluffing · browbeating · posing · looming
Mao Zedong
- Cold WarProlonged East-West standoff
- imperialismExtending dominion over others
- agitpropPolitical art for causes
sloganeering · rhetoric · demagoguery · ideological · political · revolutionary · communist · dialectic · polemical · dismissive
- Animal Idiomsblind as a bat, brave as a lion, busy bee, copycat, dark horse
- Untrustworthy Thingsbroken promise, fair-weather friend, snake in the grass, wolf in sheep's clothing, two-faced
- East Asian Culturechopsticks, yin and yang, tea ceremony, origami, qi
- cowardicecoward, cowardly, craven, gutless, spineless
- Tigers
- worthless thingsnot worth a dime, not worth a hill of beans, dime a dozen, two-bit, good for nothing
paper tigerforce to be reckoned with
real deal · credible threat · juggernaut · powerhouse · existential threat
paper tigerman of his word
One who keeps promises
dark horse · sleeping giant · the real thing · genuine article · real deal
paper, tiger, tigress, papyrus, papery, tigerish, papercraft, papermaking, tigerlike