saber-rattling

noun

sa·​ber-rat·​tling ˈsā-bər-ˌrat-liŋ 

-ˌra-tᵊl-iŋ

variants or saber rattling or chiefly British sabre-rattling or sabre rattling

: overtly and often exaggeratedly threatening actions or statements (such as verbal threats or ostentatious displays of military power) that are meant to intimidate an enemy by suggesting possible use of force

But Jager insists that North Korean saber-rattling was aimed mostly at extorting economic aid from Washington, Seoul and other governments anxious to preserve peace at almost any price.

—Mark Atwood Lawrence

Iran's noisy saber rattling is only the latest lurch in its erratic foreign policy.

—John Greenwald

broadly : threatening statements or actions

The U.S. central bank has been saber-rattling for months regarding interest rate hikes but has yet to pull the trigger amid uneven economic data.

—Jeff Fox

For months now, the card companies have been threatening to cut rewards programs sharply to make up for revenue lost because of the new restrictions. My guess, however, is that this talk is just so much saber-rattling.

—Ron Lieber

Examples of saber-rattling in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Kim has spent months issuing mounting threats against his southern neighbors and working to enhance his nuclear arsenal, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has engaged in his own saber-rattling with the West as his military lost scores of men to make battlefield gains. —Matthew Bodner, NBC News, 30 Oct. 2024

As president from 2017-21, Trump used such saber-rattling rhetoric to win concessions on immigration from López Obrador and his predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto. —Eduardo García, San Antonio Express-News, 29 Sep. 2024

And, overall, the tone is much more contentious than during the West Coast negotiations, where there was relatively little saber-rattling and few people on either side viewed a strike as a serious threat. —Don Lee, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2024

Putin has turned to loud nuclear saber-rattling in an effort to deter the U.S. from accepting Ukraine’s request. —Patrick Reevell, ABC News, 26 Sep. 2024

That has led Ukrainians, and many NATO officials, to conclude that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear saber-rattling is an elaborate bluff. —Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Sep. 2024

Though there was some saber-rattling at the outset, the negotiations proceeded relatively smoothly, without resort to a strike authorization vote or even the threat of one. —Gene Maddaus, Variety, 28 June 2024

Russia’s saber-rattling on potential use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine makes this distinction all too real. —Tamlyn Hunt, Scientific American, 17 June 2024

In the near term, that means working together to push back against Russian disinformation about the war and false historical narratives, as well as the Kremlin’s other efforts to intimidate Europe—including through deliberate nuclear saber-rattling and energy cutoffs. —Fiona Hill, Foreign Affairs, 25 Aug. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined above