bloodletting

[bluhd-let-ing]

noun

1. the act or practice of letting blood by opening a vein; phlebotomy.

2. bloodshed or slaughter.

3. bloodbath.

4. Informal.,  severe cutbacks or reduction in personnel, appropriations, etc..

   The company went through a period of bloodletting in the 1970s.

Other Word Forms

• bloodletter noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of bloodletting¹

First recorded in 1175–1225, bloodletting is from Middle English blod letunge. See blood, let ¹, -ing ¹

Example Sentences

He is globally revered for putting a stop to the frenzy of bloodletting 31 years ago, in which extremist members of the Hutu ethnic group murdered some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

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The Epstein scandal may prove to be the tie that binds — or, to extend the metaphor, the first political bloodletting that has universal appeal since Nixon was expelled from the body politic.

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The horrendous bloodletting of World War I bloodletting removed all inhibitions against a total, violent resolution of social conflict.

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But the guns kept coming — and the bloodletting and mayhem grew.

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Discovery come two days after the Walt Disney Co. implemented a bloodletting across its film and television marketing teams, television publicity, casting and development as well as corporate operations.

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Related Words

• bloodbath 
• carnage 
• fighting 
• killing 
• massacre 
• murder