bad blood

See synonyms for bad blood on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. unfriendly or hostile relations; enmity; hostility; animosity: When the territory was being settled there was bad blood between the farmers and the ranchers.

Origin of bad blood

1
First recorded in 1815–25

Words Nearby bad blood

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bad blood in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for bad blood

bad blood

noun
  1. a feeling of intense hatred or hostility; enmity

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with bad blood

bad blood

Anger or hostility between persons or groups, as in There's been bad blood between the two families for years. This term is based on the old association with blood and emotion, particularly anger. Versions such as ill blood preceded it; Charles Lamb was among the first to use the idiom in its current form in an 1823 essay.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.