saber rattling

saber rattling
    n 1: the ostentatious display of military power (with the
         implied threat that it might be used) [syn: {saber
         rattling}, {sabre rattling}]
    

44 Moby Thesaurus words for "saber rattling":
      aggression, aggressiveness, antagonism, bellicism, bellicose,
      bellicosity, belligerence, belligerency, bulldozing, chauvinism,
      combativeness, commination, contentiousness, denunciation,
      empty threat, ferocity, fierceness, fight, foreboding, hostility,
      idle threat, imminence, implied threat, intimidate, intimidation,
      jingoism, martialism, menace, militancy, militarism,
      promise of harm, pugnaciousness, pugnacity, quarrelsomeness,
      sword of Damocles, threat, threateningness, threatfulness,
      truculence, unfriendliness, unpeacefulness, warmongering, warning,
      warpath