Find the synonyms or antonyms of a word
Synonyms for bloodiest
Grammar : Adj |
Spell : bluhd-ee |
Phonetic Transcription : ˈblʌd i |
Top 10 synonyms for bloodiest Other synonyms for the word bloodiest
Définition of bloodiest
Origin :- Old Engish blodig, adjective from blod (see blood). Common Germanic, cf. Old Frisian blodich, Old Saxon blôdag, Dutch bloedig, Old High German bluotag, German blutig.
- It has been a British intensive swear word since at least 1676. Weekley relates it to the purely intensive use of the cognate Dutch bloed, German Blut. But perhaps it ultimately is connected with bloods in the slang sense of "rowdy young aristocrats" (see blood (n.)) via expressions such as bloody drunk "as drunk as a blood."
- Partridge reports that it was "respectable" before c.1750, and it was used by Fielding and Swift, but heavily tabooed c.1750-c.1920, perhaps from imagined association with menstruation; Johnson calls it "very vulgar," and OED writes of it, "now constantly in the mouths of the lowest classes, but by respectable people considered 'a horrid word', on par with obscene or profane language."
- The onset of the taboo against bloody coincides with the increase in linguistic prudery that presaged the Victorian Era but it is hard to say what the precise cause was in the case of this specific word. Attempts have been made to explain the term's extraordinary shock power by invoking etymology. Theories that derive it from such oaths as "By our Lady" or "God's blood" seem farfetched, however. More likely, the taboo stemmed from the fear that many people have of blood and, in the minds of some, from an association with menstrual bleeding. Whatever, the term was debarred from polite society during the whole of the nineteenth century. [Rawson]
- Shaw shocked theatergoers when he put it in the mouth of Eliza Doolittle in "Pygmalion" (1914), and for a time the word was known euphemistically as "the Shavian adjective." It was avoided in print as late as 1936. Bloody Sunday, Jan. 30, 1972, when 13 civilians were killed by British troops at protest in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
- adj (used as intensifier)
- adj bleeding
- adj hard-fought
- If they do this they make the Dardanelles into the bloodiest tragedy of the world!
- Extract from : « Gallipoli Diary, Volume 2 » by Ian Hamilton
- The bloodiest battle of 1917 was fought on the slopes of Vimy Ridge.
- Extract from : « The Blot on the Kaiser's 'Scutcheon » by Newell Dwight Hillis
- The street of Lincoln, one of the bloodiest of its size in the world, is silent.
- Extract from : « The Story of the Outlaw » by Emerson Hough
- The contest was one of the bloodiest ever known within the walls of the city.
- Extract from : « Aurelian » by William Ware
- In England the impression was that the bloodiest battle was fought at Gravelotte.
- Extract from : « Tracks of a Rolling Stone » by Henry J. Coke
- The tale is one of war of the cruellest, bloodiest, and most confused type.
- Extract from : « The River War » by Winston S. Churchill
- This day has been well called the bloodiest day of the Civil War.
- Extract from : « Lee and Longstreet at High Tide » by Helen D. Longstreet
- That hardly sounds like the bloodiest chieftain in the valley, does it?
- Extract from : « The Boy Scouts at the Battle of Saratoga » by Herbert Carter
- This battle, one of the bloodiest ever fought, took place on the 16th of May.
- Extract from : « A History of England, Period III. » by Rev. J. Franck Bright
- This was the bloodiest fight which an English army ever gained.
- Extract from : « A History of England » by Charles Oman
Antonyms for bloodiest
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019