empty threat

noun

: a threat that someone does not really mean
Don't make empty threats that you have no intention of backing up with action.
… the Witch of the West looks, in this scene anyhow, curiously frail and impotent, obliged to mouth empty threats …—Salman Rushdie

Examples of empty threat in a Sentence

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Gallego called it an empty threat. — Ronald J. Hansen, AZCentral.com, 26 Sep. 2025 His empty threats did little more than validate the regime’s impulse to destroy the enemy within. — Omid Memarian, The Atlantic, 25 Jan. 2026 Educators have argued the district’s assertions are empty threats given that staffing is already an issue. — Sierra Lopez, Mercury News, 5 Dec. 2025 Similarly, many exiles viewed the legislation as an empty threat because of the remote prospect of ever collecting from a bankrupt government. — Joshua Goodman, Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for empty threat

Rhymes for empty threat

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Browse Nearby Words

empty suit
empty threat
empty weight
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Cite this Entry

“Empty threat.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empty%20threat. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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