barking at nothing; barking at passers-by or visitors
Describes a dog barking without a clear threat, often at strangers or trivial stimuli. Can be used literally or figuratively for pointless complaining.
The neighbor's dog's barking at nothing is noisy.
His criticism is just pointless barking.
遠吠え means 'howling' (often at a distance), while 無駄吠え specifically refers to barking without a good reason.
Standard kanji spelling.
Mixed kana-kanji spelling; less common but still used.
Alternate kanji for 無駄; rarely used in this compound.
Compound of 無駄 (むだ, 'useless, pointless') and 吠え (ぼえ, 'barking', from 吠える). Literally 'useless barking'.