Meaning of ‘All Bark and No Bite’
A person who makes loud or boastful statements, but fails to follow through on their words. The phrase all bark and no bite means that the person is all talk and lacks the ability or willingness to back up what they say with action. Basically, there is no substance to their words.
Example: The manager threatened to fire the underperforming employee multiple times, but never took any action. He’s just all bark and no bite.
Similar Phrases: actions speak louder than words, all show and no substance, all talk and no action
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Interested in exploring more idioms that start with the letter A? Check out our Common Idioms Starting With A page for a list of them.
Origin of ‘All Bark And No Bite’
The origin of this phrase likely comes from a dog’s behavior, how they oftentimes will bark, but not follow it up with any action (like biting, for example). Thus, as the saying goes, the dog is all bark and no bite.
Dogs bark for multiple reasons, one of which is when they see someone they do not recognize. They might bark at the person, giving an appearance that they will do something more aggressive, but they usually don’t. Indeed, no further action is taken by the dog; it’s just making a lot of noise. This concept is thus applied to people who act in a similar way—they talk about doing something (making a lot of noise like a dog would), but they end up doing nothing.
According to Grammar Monster, the idea of this expression dates back to John Heywood’s glossary of proverbs from around 1546. As for the phrase itself, it appears there is a slightly older saying that goes ‘his bark is worse than his bite.’ For instance, in The Colonial Times newspaper, November 1829:
“Still, ‘his bark is waur than his bite.’ “
As for the idiom ‘all bark and no bite,’ it can be found at a later date. For example, it appears in print in The Banner newspaper, October 1853:
“You see he was all bark and no bite. Well, it is the same with men and women, and boys and girls, as it is with dogs.”
Example Sentences
Here are examples of this idiom used in sentences:
1. He is all bark and no bite because he keeps talking about how he’s gonna get in shape at the gym, but I never see him there.
2. She promised to clean the dishes days ago, but she’s all bark with no bite.
3. After bragging about how they were going to beat their opponent in an upcoming match, they didn’t even show up. They’ve got bark, but no bite.
Related Idioms and Phrases:
Common Animal Idioms: Fun Phrases Related to Animals
If you want to see more dog related idioms, here is a list of animal phrases that include our canine companions.