sanguinary

English

Adjective

sanguinary

1. Accompanied by bloodshed.
   • 1887, Henry Rider Haggard, Allan Quatermain, Chapter XIII,

     " […] every one of which took its rise from some noble family that succeeded in grasping the purple after a sanguinary struggle."

2. Eager for bloodshed; bloodthirsty.
   • 1877, Samuel Green, The Life of Mahomet: Founder of the Religion of Islamism and of the Empire of the Saracens with Notices of the History of Islamism and of Arabia, p. 126,

     "The defence set up for Mahomet is equally availing for every sanguinary and revengeful tyrant; […] "

3. Consisting of, covered with or similar in appearance to blood.
   • 1913, H. G. Wells, Little Wars, Section VI,

     Here is the premeditation, the thrill, the strain of accumulating victory or disaster—and no smashed nor sanguinary bodies […] , that we who are old enough to remember a real modern war know to be the reality of belligerence.

Synonyms

• bloodthirsty
• gory
• slaughterous
• butcherous

Translations

accompanied by bloodshed

eager for bloodshed

consisting of or similar to blood

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

German: blutbefleckt, blutdürstig, mörderisch

Usage notes

Not to be confused with sanguine. Sanguine means 'optimistic', sanguinary means 'blood-thirsty, gory'.