"False bravado" means acting or showing courage or confidence that is not genuine or real.
Sentences with «false bravado»
Like his characters, and especially his teen characters, Woodrell's prose mixes tough and tender so thoroughly yet so delicately that we never taste even a hint of false bravado, on the one hand, or sentimentality, on the other. (booklistonline.com)
It starts as false bravado — you're acting like you're cool and confident even when you're not — but if you're convincing enough, people start to believe it. (canadianbusiness.com)
Set during the depression when riding the rails was a way of life for desperate men (and women), the film follows three characters - Lee Marvin, as Number One, a legend among the grizzled hobos congregating along the rail lines; Ernest Borgnine as Shack, the sadistic conductor perfectly willing to do whatever necessary to keep free loaders off his trains; and a young Keith Carradine as Two - Bit, a novice full of bluster and false bravado out to make a name for himself. (rottentomatoes.com)