Sanguinary

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈsæŋɡwɪnÉ™ri/
• US IPA: /ˈsæŋɡwɪneri/

Origin

From Latin sanguinarius.

Full definition of sanguinary

Adjective

1. Attended with bloodshed.
• Francis BaconWe may not propagate religion by wars, or by sanguinary persecutions to force consciences.
• 1887, Henry Rider Haggard, Allan Quatermain, ,"... every one of which took its rise from some noble family that succeeded in grasping the purple after a sanguinary struggle."
2. Eager to shed blood; bloodthirsty.
• BroomePassion ... 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, 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, , ,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 means “optimistic”, while sanguinary means “bloodthirsty, gory”.

Synonyms

• bloodthirsty
• gory
• slaughterous
• butcherous

Related terms

• sanguine
• sanguineous

Noun

1. A bloodthirsty person.
2. The plant yarrow, or herba sanguinaria.