bloodbath

Or blood bath

[bluhd-bath, -bahth]

noun

plural

bloodbaths 

1. a ruthless slaughter of a great number of people; massacre.

2. Informal.,  a period of disastrous loss or reversal.

   A few mutual funds performed well in the general bloodbath of the stock market.

3. a widespread dismissal or purge, as of employees.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bloodbath¹

First recorded in 1865–70; blood + bath ¹

Example Sentences

If a deal with China isn’t reached soon, Hill said, the soybean market “might be a bloodbath.”

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Some scholars speculated the lower court bloodbath might actually be a strategic sacrifice in the war to extend presidential power in the Supreme Court.

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“Sinners” transforms mid-film to become a vampire bloodbath, while the words “demon hunters” are right there in the other movie’s title.

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There was the chicken breast I marinated in lemon juice, rice vinegar and balsamic reduction — a trio I would now classify, gently, as a vinaigrette bloodbath.

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One Axios headline, for example, warned of a “white-collar bloodbath” resulting from AI taking jobs from humans.

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Related Words

• carnage 
• purge 
• slaughter