sabre-rattling
sabre-rattling noun: a flamboyant display of military power as an implied threat that it might be used. Also the present participle and gerund of sabre-rattle.
Noun
sabre-rattling (countable and uncountable, plural sabre-rattlings)
Adjective
sabre-rattling (comparative more sabre-rattling, superlative most sabre-rattling)
- Bellicose; threatening military action.
- But it excited much discontent in sabre-rattling court circles which regarded Austrophilia as the most un-French of diplomatic perversions.2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 121
Also used as
sabre-rattling is also the present participle and gerund of sabre-rattle.
Forms of sabre-rattling
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | sabre-rattlings |
| alternative form | saber-rattling (mostly US) |
| alternative form | saber rattling (mostly US) |
| alternative form | sabre rattling |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more sabre-rattling |
| superlative | most sabre-rattling |
Origin of sabre-rattling
From the early 20th century, when an officer would threaten to draw his sabre.
Questions about sabre-rattling
- What does sabre-rattling mean?
- Sabre-rattling means a flamboyant display of military power as an implied threat that it might be used.
- What part of speech is sabre-rattling?
- Sabre-rattling can be a noun or an adjective.
- What is the plural of sabre-rattling?
- The plural of sabre-rattling is sabre-rattlings.
Words near sabre-rattling in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sabre-rattling (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-sabre-rattling.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sabre-rattling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sabre-rattling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.