From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishempty words/gestures/promises etcempty words/gestures/promises etcPRETENDwords etc that are not sincere, or have no effect His repeated promises to pay them back were just empty words. → empty
Examples from the Corpus
empty words/gestures/promises etc• Hadn't he said that to express it would be just empty words?• He expected her to trust him, but as far as she could see they were just empty words.• He listens politely, then makes plausible but essentially empty gestures.• I tried to make choices, but wound up with empty gestures.• This is the circus of empty promises and dry press releases that are part and parcel of meetings like these.• These are not empty words and phrases, but principles given powerful institutional sanction.• To all these petitions the Crown returned empty promises of redress. 