sanguinary

English

WOTD – 7 July 2012

Etymology

From Middle English sanguinarie, from Latin sanguinārius.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsæŋɡwɪnəɹi/
• IPA^(key): /ˈsæŋɡwɪneɹi/
• Hyphenation: san‧gui‧nar‧y

Adjective

sanguinary (comparative more sanguinary, superlative most sanguinary)

1. (of an event) Involving bloodshed.

   Synonyms: bloody, gory

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, "Unity in Religion" (Google preview):

     We may not propagate religion by wars, or by sanguinary persecutions to force consciences.

   • 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. (of a person) Eager to shed blood; bloodthirsty.

   Synonyms: bloodthirsty, bloody-minded, butcherous, slaughterous

   • c. 1730 William Broome:

     Passion […] makes us brutal and sanguinary.

   • 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^[1], page 126:

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

3. (of an object) Consisting of, covered with, or similar in appearance to blood.

   Synonyms: bloodsoaked, bloody, gory

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:

     I was once, I remember, called to a patient who had received a violent contusion in his tibia, by which the exterior cutis was lacerated, so that there was a profuse sanguinary discharge […]

   • 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.

   • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka (republished by Eland, 2019; p. 117):

     We reached the Point just as a flood of sunset light was dripping from the heavens, staining the lagoon an ominous, sanguinary hue.

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with sanguine. Sanguine can mean “optimistic”, while sanguinary means “bloodthirsty, gory”.

Related terms

• sanguine
• sanguineous

 

Translations

accompanied by bloodshed

• Armenian: արյունահեղ (hy) (aryunaheġ), արյունալի (hy) (aryunali), ինսուռեկցիոնիստ (insuṙekcʻionist)
• Czech: krvavý (cs)
• Irish: fuilteach
• Polish: krwawy (pl) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: sanguinário (pt) m
• Romanian: sângeros (ro), sanguinar (ro)
• Swedish: blodig (sv)

eager for bloodshed

• Armenian: արյունարբու (hy) (aryunarbu), արյունռուշտ (hy) (aryunṙušt), ինսուռեկցիոնիստ (insuṙekcʻionist)
• Czech: krvelačný (cs), krvežíznivý (cs)
• Irish: fuilchíocrach, fuilbheartach
• Polish: krwiożerczy (pl) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: sanguinário (pt) m
• Romanian: sângeros (ro), sanguinar (ro)
• Swedish: blodtörstig (sv)

consisting of or similar to blood

• Armenian: արյունոտ (hy) (aryunot), ինսուռեկցիոնիստ (insuṙekcʻionist)
• Czech: krvavý (cs)
• French: sanguin (fr) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: krwawy (pl) m
• Romanian: sangvin (ro)
• Swedish: blodig (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: ^{(please verify)} blutbefleckt, ^{(please verify)} blutdürstig, ^{(please verify)} mörderisch (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Noun

sanguinary (plural sanguinaries)

1. A bloodthirsty person.
2. The plant common yarrow, or herba sanguinaria (Achillea millefolium).