bloodletting
the act or practice of letting blood by opening a vein; phlebotomy.
bloodshed or slaughter.
Informal. severe cutbacks or reduction in personnel, appropriations, etc.: The company went through a period of bloodletting in the 1970s.
Origin of bloodletting
1Other words from bloodletting
- bloodletter, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use bloodletting in a sentence
Despite every holding company reporting some staff reductions and predictions of a major bloodletting in the spring, nearly a third of respondents to a survey of 52 agency professionals said their agencies had increased their headcounts this year.
Digiday Research: Nearly one third of agencies grew their headcounts in 2020 | Max Willens | December 23, 2020 | Digiday
British Dictionary definitions for blood-letting
/ (ˈblʌdˌlɛtɪŋ) /
the therapeutic removal of blood, as in relieving congestive heart failure: See also phlebotomy
bloodshed, esp in a blood feud
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
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