bloodlust

noun

Definition of bloodlustnext
as in brutality
the desire to kill or to see people killed warriors inflamed by bloodlust

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bloodlust But surely in addition to terrorizing the locals for centuries while Warren was hanging out in a coffin, the island looked toward other solutions for its bloodlust. — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 17 June 2026 The sisters’ mission involves a dangerous and violent road trip; the fierce Racine outdoes the sensitive Anaia in her bloodlust, and the drama, reminiscent of classical tragedy, resounds with mythopoetic overtones. — Sheldon Pearce, New Yorker, 15 May 2026 Jones was prepared for the bloodlust of the rivalry, the physicality required. — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 28 Apr. 2026 Do better, or consider hiring people who paint a vivid enough picture with words rather than having to lean on photographers who seem to have an obscene bloodlust. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 4 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for bloodlust
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bloodlust
  1. brutality
  2. murderousness
  3. bloodthirstiness
  4. meanness
  5. savagery
  6. cruelty
  7. sadism
  8. barbarity
Noun
  • Dupuy-Spencer had a reputation for clear-eyed renderings of both the tenderness and the brutality of our world; here, darker forces prevail.
    — Dan Stahl, New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2026
  • However, Gates, who resigned in the wake of the 1992 LA Riots, was also viewed as leaving a legacy of police brutality and racial tension.
    — Tom Wait, CBS News, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of brutality
Noun
  • The guy was a sleaze, but there’s a pretty big gap between sleaziness and murderousness.
    — Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 12 Dec. 2025
Definition of murderousness
Noun
  • The findings can’t be extrapolated to the real world — the scenarios were extreme, with the regimes often facing first strikes or annihilation — but revealed AIs’ skill at strategic reasoning, as well as a certain bloodthirstiness.
    — Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 4 Mar. 2026
Definition of bloodthirstiness
Noun
  • Don’t give in to that meanness, and that false belief in scarcity.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Amid so much belabored meanness, meager appeals to conscience scan more like self-conscious obligation, easily subsumed by impotence.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of meanness
Noun
  • The poem’s anguished meditations on love’s savagery and isolation are designed to draw blood.
    — Merve Emre, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2026
  • In a culture that refuses to accept its responsibilities, its complicities, we are all reduced, in some essential measure, to a state of savagery.
    — David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of savagery
Noun
  • Christopher Stefanou of Long Island is charged with animal cruelty and breaking rules about shark fishing, Cape & Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois said Wednesday.
    — Neal Riley, CBS News, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Florida House Bill 559 recently created new guidelines to address animal cruelty across the state, including by allowing municipalities to increase fines and penalties.
    — Joshua Ceballos, Miami Herald, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of cruelty
Noun
  • School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, might well come closest in approach to Kimberly Belflower’s urgent John Proctor Is The Villain in its insistence that homeroom sadism doesn’t just spring from hormones or reindeer game competition.
    — Greg Evans, Deadline, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Lagioia’s book goes into disturbing detail about what came next; suffice it to say that Luca’s murder tested the bounds of sadism.
    — Jay Weissberg, Variety, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of sadism
Noun
  • What wasn’t new was the continuation of the kind of barbarity that dominated conflicts of recent memory, from Cambodia to Rwanda.
    — David Friend, Vanity Fair, 10 Sep. 2026
  • The report comes as the RSF lays siege to El Obeid, where analysts say similar barbarity is imminent.
    — Jeronimo Gonzalez, semafor.com, 9 July 2026
Definition of barbarity

Browse Nearby Words

bloodlines
bloodlust
bloodred
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Cite this Entry

“Bloodlust.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bloodlust. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

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