bloodlust

noun

blood·​lust ˈbləd-ˌləst How to pronounce bloodlust (audio)
: desire for bloodshed

Examples of bloodlust in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Some people don’t go through this kind of bloodlust, and that’s normal, too. Ayana Underwood, SELF, 9 Feb. 2024 The prosecutor was at her most confident and incisive, and the audience thrilled to her cold, mechanical bloodlust. Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2023 Farmers who spotted grizzlies gnawing on the occasional carcass probably took the incidents as confirmation of the bears’ bloodlust, Alagona said—and, eventually, as justification for exterminating them. Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 10 Jan. 2024 Hutchison deserves major kudos for his ultra-menacing portrayal of Tooms, whose eyes turn yellow when the bloodlust is upon him. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 10 Sep. 2023 The sentiment was understandable: Hamas’s unspeakable brutality in massacring some 1,400 Israelis, including women and children and the elderly, much of it gleefully captured on video, recalled the savagery and bloodlust of ISIS at its height. Cole Bunzel, Foreign Affairs, 2 Nov. 2023 Now Democrats who still oppose building a border wall are taking a much less forgiving position on the asylum system—a stance that resembles the pre-Trump Republican Party’s, while the GOP currently careens into open bloodlust. Felipe De La Hoz, The New Republic, 11 Oct. 2023 The cult of violence, the appeal to young-male rage and bloodlust, the celebration of a robotic urge to fight to the end—Hollywood has been injecting all of this into the global id for the better part of a century. Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2023 On the trail that skirts the marsh grass, a dense cloud of bloodlust envelops the visitor. Andy Newman, New York Times, 29 Aug. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bloodlust.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1848, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of bloodlust was in 1848

Dictionary Entries Near bloodlust

Cite this Entry

“Bloodlust.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bloodlust. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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