SANGUINARY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sanguinary mean? 

• SANGUINARY (adjective)
  The adjective SANGUINARY has 2 senses:

1. accompanied by bloodshed

2. marked by eagerness to resort to violence and bloodshed

  Familiarity information: SANGUINARY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SANGUINARY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Accompanied by bloodshed

Synonyms:

butcherly; gory; sanguinary; sanguineous; slaughterous

Context example:

this bitter and sanguinary war

Similar:

bloody (having or covered with or accompanied by blood)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Marked by eagerness to resort to violence and bloodshed

Synonyms:

bloodthirsty; bloody-minded; sanguinary

Context example:

went after the collaborators with a sanguinary fury that drenched the land with blood

Similar:

bloody (having or covered with or accompanied by blood)

 Context examples 

Thanks to the lessons of Felix and the sanguinary laws of man, I had learned now to work mischief.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

An outcast himself from the pack of the part-grown dogs, his sanguinary methods and remarkable efficiency made the pack pay for its persecution of him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

After a good day’s killing I have seen our decks covered with hides and bodies, slippery with fat and blood, the scuppers running red; masts, ropes, and rails spattered with the sanguinary colour; and the men, like butchers plying their trade, naked and red of arm and hand, hard at work with ripping and flensing-knives, removing the skins from the pretty sea-creatures they had killed.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I thought of Elizabeth, of my father, and of Clerval—all left behind, on whom the monster might satisfy his sanguinary and merciless passions.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)