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Bluster vs Threaten - What's the difference?

bluster | threaten | Synonyms |

As verbs the difference between bluster and threaten

is that bluster is to speak or protest loudly while threaten is to make a threat against someone; to use threats.

As a noun bluster

is pompous, officious talk.

bluster

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Pompous, officious talk.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster .}}
  • A gust of wind.
  • Fitful noise and violence.

    • Synonyms

    * (pompous talk) bombast

    Verb

  • To speak or protest loudly.
    • When confronted by opposition his reaction was to bluster , which often cowed the meek.
  • To act or speak in an unduly threatening manner.
  • * Burke
    • Your ministerial directors blustered like tragic tyrants.
  • * Sir T. More
    • He bloweth and blustereth out his abominable blasphemy.
  • * Fuller
    • As if therewith he meant to bluster all princes into a perfect obedience to his commands.
  • To blow in strong or sudden gusts.
  • * Milton
    • And ever-threatening storms / Of Chaos blustering round.

    Derived terms

    * blusterer * blustering * blusterous * blustery

    Anagrams

    * *

    threaten

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make a threat against someone; to use threats.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
    • , title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=No one, however, would have anything to do with him, as Mr. Keeson's orders in those respects were very strict ; he had often threatened any one of his employés with instant dismissal if he found him in company with one of these touts.}}
    He threatened me with a knife.
  • To menace, or be dangerous.
    • The rocks threatened the ship's survival.
  • To portend, or give a warning of.
    • The black clouds threatened heavy rain.

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See