bloodstream

noun

blood·​stream ˈbləd-ˌstrēm 

1

: the flowing blood in a circulatory system

2

: a mainstream of power or vitality

… introduce into the economic bloodstream a large amount of money …

—Harper's

Examples of bloodstream in a Sentence

The drug is now entering the bloodstream.

Recent Examples on the Web

The lymphatic system runs alongside blood circulation and picks up fluid and larger particles that veins cannot absorb, moving that waste back toward the bloodstream so the kidneys can filter it or the body can reuse it. — Samantha Agate, Sacbee.com, 17 Sep. 2026

These will cause glucose to flood the bloodstream quite rapidly, and then your pancreas responds by pumping out all this insulin. — Mira Miller, Verywell Health, 17 Sep. 2026

Future iterations could safeguard dense digital archives for millennia, or even drift inside human bloodstreams to identify diseases cell by cell. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 16 Sep. 2026

The drug was initially created to address idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a condition that negatively impacts the lungs’ role in delivering oxygen to the bloodstream. — Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 8 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for bloodstream

• abeam
• airstream
• daydream
• downstream
• esteem
• extreme
• grapheme
• hakim
• hornbeam
• lexeme
• mainstream
• midstream

Kids Definition

bloodstream

noun

blood·​stream -ˌstrēm 

: the flowing blood in a living thing with a circulatory system

Medical Definition

bloodstream

noun

blood·​stream -ˌstrēm 

: the flowing blood in a circulatory system