idle threat

noun

: a threat that a person does not really mean to follow through with
She said she would leave him, but he knew it was an idle threat.

Examples of idle threat in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Active Russian preparations for future cyber-operations indicate that this not an idle threat. David Cattler, Foreign Affairs, 6 Apr. 2022 Each successive idle threat invites an adversary to test boundaries even more than the last time, and so the consequences of bluffing grow increasingly perilous. James A. Nathan, Foreign Affairs, 11 Oct. 2012

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“Idle threat.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/idle%20threat. Accessed 29 Mar. 2025.

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