1
: deficient in or free from blood
2
: not accompanied by loss or shedding of blood
a bloodless victory
3
: lacking in spirit or vitality
4
: lacking in human feeling
bloodless statistics
bloodlessly
adverb
bloodlessness
noun
Examples of bloodless in a Sentence
They took control of the government in a bloodless coup.
Her speeches are dull and bloodless.
a bunch of bloodless numbers and statistics
His face was bloodless with fear.
Recent Examples on the Web
Matar had written about similar upheavals becoming a feature of daily life in Libya, not long after Qaddafi first seized power in a bloodless coup in 1969.
—
Hazlitt, 3 Apr. 2024
Cook left behind voluminous logs and journals; the entries in these, too, are generally bloodless.
—Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2024
Pakistani journalists adapt Pakistani media blossomed under the military dictatorship of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who took control in a bloodless coup in October 1999.
—Hasan Ali, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Mar. 2024
That would be a change for Portugal, which in April celebrates the 50-year anniversary of a bloodless military insurrection that overthrew the country’s right-wing dictatorship.
—Dominique Soguel, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Mar. 2024
When my daughter, Liv, filled out college applications for the University of California system, five short essays were required, giving students a chance to make an impression beyond bloodless grades and GPA.
—Erik Himmelsbach-Weinstein, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2024
Bishop came to power in 1979 after overthrowing Grenada’s leader, Sir Eric Gairy, in a nearly bloodless coup.
—Rennie Svirnovskiy, Washington Post, 8 Dec. 2023
Related Stories The resulting series is big, bold and beautiful, but maybe just a bit bloodless.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Feb. 2024
The segment immediately following that bloodbath is itself bloodless, but only because a French neutron bomb turns all of Springfield into an empty, echoing graveyard of dusty corpses, with Homer (caught testing out a bomb shelter) seemingly the last man on Earth.
—Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 24 Nov. 2023
Hazlitt, 3 Apr. 2024
Cook left behind voluminous logs and journals; the entries in these, too, are generally bloodless.
—Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2024
Pakistani journalists adapt Pakistani media blossomed under the military dictatorship of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who took control in a bloodless coup in October 1999.
—Hasan Ali, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Mar. 2024
That would be a change for Portugal, which in April celebrates the 50-year anniversary of a bloodless military insurrection that overthrew the country’s right-wing dictatorship.
—Dominique Soguel, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Mar. 2024
When my daughter, Liv, filled out college applications for the University of California system, five short essays were required, giving students a chance to make an impression beyond bloodless grades and GPA.
—Erik Himmelsbach-Weinstein, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2024
Bishop came to power in 1979 after overthrowing Grenada’s leader, Sir Eric Gairy, in a nearly bloodless coup.
—Rennie Svirnovskiy, Washington Post, 8 Dec. 2023
Related Stories The resulting series is big, bold and beautiful, but maybe just a bit bloodless.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Feb. 2024
The segment immediately following that bloodbath is itself bloodless, but only because a French neutron bomb turns all of Springfield into an empty, echoing graveyard of dusty corpses, with Homer (caught testing out a bomb shelter) seemingly the last man on Earth.
—Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 24 Nov. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bloodless.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near bloodless
Cite this Entry
“Bloodless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bloodless. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
bloodless
adjective
blood·less
ˈbləd-ləs 
1
: having less blood than normal
2
: done without bloodshed
a bloodless revolution
3
: lacking in spirit or feeling
bloodlessly
adverb
bloodlessness
noun
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