From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsabre-rattlingˈsabre-ˌrattling noun [uncountable] PMTHREATENwhen someone threatens to use force but you do not think they are very frightening or serious What the situation calls for is calm discussion, not sabre-rattling.
Examples from the Corpus
sabre-rattling• Q.. Then why all the sabre-rattling? 