Bark is worse than his bite

1. This person makes a great many threats but doesn't follow through on them.

Idioms and Phrases

A person seems more hostile or aggressive than is the case, as in Dad sounds very grouchy in the morning, but his bark's worse than his bite. This phrase was a proverb by the mid-1600s.

Example Sentences

England will be hoping that Van der Merwe's bark is worse than his bite in Pune.

Read more on BBC

"Petro's bark is worse than his bite. Although it's a bad signal, it's not unprecedented and he can't really enact significant changes that would materially affect the country's monetary policy," Guzman said.

Read more on Reuters

“That Trump’s bark is worse than his bite is something the American people came to terms with a long time ago. They don’t want a president impeached for his personality tics,” Mr. Neumayr adds.

Read more on Washington Times

The people who have doubts about Malpass fall into two camps: those who think that he will be better than Wolfowitz and that his eventual support for the capital increase suggests his bark is worse than his bite: and those who think he will be every bit as bad as feared.

Read more on The Guardian

This has prompted a few Europeans to hope that “his bark is worse than his bite,” in the words of Mr. Westmacott.

Read more on New York Times