sanguinary
English
WOTD – 7 July 2012
Etymology
From Middle English sanguinarie, from Latin sanguinārius.
Adjective
sanguinary (comparative more sanguinary, superlative most sanguinary)
- (of an event) Involving bloodshed.
- 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."
- 1625, Francis Bacon, "Unity in Religion" (Google preview):
- (of a person) Eager to shed blood; bloodthirsty.
- Synonyms: bloodthirsty, bloody-minded, butcherous, slaughterous
- c. 1730, William Broome:
- Passion […] makes us brutal and sanguinary.
- (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. In Six Volumes, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292:
- 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.
Usage notes
- Not to be confused with sanguine. Sanguine can mean “optimistic”, while sanguinary means “bloodthirsty, gory”.
Related terms
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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Noun
sanguinary (plural sanguinaries)
- A bloodthirsty person.
- The plant common yarrow, or herba sanguinaria (Achillea millefolium).
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