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bloody

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verb

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective bloody contrast with its synonyms?

The words gory and sanguinary are common synonyms of bloody. While all three words mean "affected by or involving the shedding of blood," bloody is applied especially to things that are actually covered with blood or are made up of blood.

bloody hands

Where would gory be a reasonable alternative to bloody?

In some situations, the words gory and bloody are roughly equivalent. However, gory suggests a profusion of blood and slaughter.

exceptionally gory, even for a horror movie

When could sanguinary be used to replace bloody?

The meanings of sanguinary and bloody largely overlap; however, sanguinary applies especially to something attended by, or someone inclined to, bloodshed.

the Civil War was America's most sanguinary conflict

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 bloody
Adjective
Directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara with a screenplay by Hiroshi Seko, the movie follows Denji as his encounter with café worker Reze leads to a clash between intimate connection and bloody chaos. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 27 Oct. 2025 Infected pets may experience lethargy, diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Eva Wen, jsonline.com, 25 Oct. 2025
Verb
Antao was left cut and bloodied by the altercation. Michael Dorgan, FOXNews.com, 27 Sep. 2025 At the end of the season four finale, his body was found bloodied in a fountain in the building’s courtyard. Olivia Singh, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for bloody
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bloody
Adjective
  • The Raptors crowd, generally decked out in red, black, gold, purple, white and some of the other colours the Raptors have featured over the years, sported far more blue than usual on Friday.
    Eric Koreen, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025
  • All colors—black, green, pink, pistachio, red, blue, and white—have the wide lines running down the sides in contrasting colors.
    Olivia Young, Travel + Leisure, 25 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Their characters try to help when the Fisherman, a hook-wielding murderous menace in a rain slicker, returns to haunt yet another group of youngsters with no respect for road safety.
    Brian Truitt, USA Today, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Halloween 5 presents more supernatural elements than previous Halloween films, with Jamie having a telepathic connection to her murderous uncle, and Michael being cursed and controlled by a cult to kill his family members.
    Jessica Sager, PEOPLE, 24 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Cuomo has sought to cast Mamdani, a 34-year-old state assemblymember, as a naive candidate whose agenda would damage the city.
    Jason Ma, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2025
  • The three suspects damaged property and smashed several iPads taken from a special education classroom, according to a Facebook post by the Chandler Police Department.
    Wren Smetana, AZCentral.com, 26 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Chickens with reddish-brown feathers and red earlobes tend to lay brown eggs.
    Lindsey DeSoto, Health, 23 Oct. 2025
  • Turbulence in Lake Nyos changes the color from clear blue to mud-brown or reddish from iron sediments.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 22 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Advertisement While the commercial supply of goods has improved since the cease-fire deal, the flow of humanitarian aid continues to be marred by bureaucracy, delays, and blockages.
    Anna Halford, Time, 25 Oct. 2025
  • Martin starred as one of the NFL’s top running backs a decade ago, in a career that was also marred by injuries and off-field challenges.
    Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 22 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • What unfolds is a gory nightmare revisiting past traumas.
    Brian Truitt, USA Today, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Satanic Rites approaches the genre in an inspired way that more films should — as a gory political thriller with vampires.
    Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Simulations take place between October and March in brutal winter conditions, when the Gobi freezes solid.
    Rosanna Philpott, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2025
  • This early modern period would set the foundations of the rise of the transatlantic slave trade and a new form of slavery—hereditary racial slavery—that would be central to the creation of the racial-caste hierarchy and to the rise of Britain’s wealthy and brutal Caribbean slave empire.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Earlier, the agency said a man in his 70s was killed by a falling tree in the southern coastal town of Marigot, while five people were injured in the Artibonite region.
    Josh Cradduck, NBC news, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Unless another boy was injured, a boy with a father who resembled me.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 24 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Bloody.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bloody. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.

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