Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
a. bellicose; threatening military action. n. 1 (context idiomatic English) A flamboyant display of military power as an implied threat that it might be used. 2 (context idiomatic figuratively English) Any threat, such as one company threatening another with a lawsuit.
Usage examples of "sabre-rattling".
More ecological decay, more flashpoint wars over crop failures and water shortages, more floods of refugees washing across the southern continents, more sabre-rattling between the Chinese and Maclachlan's government.
What small liking that Hay had ever had for Roosevelt was currently in abeyance, thanks to his sabre-rattling over the canal treaty, abetted by the treacherous Lodge.
Attention could now be turned away from sabre-rattling to the provision of goods for the consumer, thus creating jobs and prosperity where they are most needed—“in our own backyard.