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• gore
  gore

  noun

  blood that is shed, especially when clotted.
• Gore
  Gore

  noun

  Albert Arnold, Jr. Al, born 1948, U.S. politician: vice president of the U.S. 1993–2001.

gore

¹ American  

[gawr, gohr] / gɔr, goʊr /

noun

1. blood that is shed, especially when clotted.

2. murder, bloodshed, violence, etc..

   That horror movie had too much gore.

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gore ² American  

[gawr, gohr] / gɔr, goʊr /

verb (used with object)

gored, goring

1. to pierce with or as if with a horn or tusk.

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gore ³ American  

[gawr, gohr] / gɔr, goʊr /

noun

1. a triangular piece of material inserted in a garment, sail, etc., to give it greater width or a desired shape.

2. one of the panels, usually tapering or shaped, making up a garment, as a skirt.

3. a triangular tract of land, especially one lying between larger divisions.

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verb (used with object)

gored, goring

1. to make or furnish with a gore or gores.

Gore ⁴ American  

[gawr, gohr] / gɔr, goʊr /

noun

1. Albert Arnold, Jr. Al, born 1948, U.S. politician: vice president of the U.S. 1993–2001.

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Gore ⁵ American  

[gawr-ey, gohr-ey] / ˈgɔr eɪ, ˈgoʊr eɪ /

noun

1. a city in W Ethiopia.

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gore ¹ British  

/ ɡɔː /

noun

1. a tapering or triangular piece of material used in making a shaped skirt, umbrella, etc

2. a similarly shaped piece, esp of land

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verb

1. (tr) to make into or with a gore or gores

gore ² British  

/ ɡɔː /

noun

1. blood shed from a wound, esp when coagulated

2. informal killing, fighting, etc

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Gore ³ British  

/ ɡɔː /

noun

1. Al ( bert ) Jr. born 1948, US Democrat politician; vice president of the US (1993–2001); defeated in the disputed presidential election of 2000; leading environmental campaigner; shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel For Climate Change

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gore ⁴ British  

/ ɡɔː /

verb

1. (tr) (of an animal, such as a bull) to pierce or stab (a person or another animal) with a horn or tusk

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Other Word Forms

• gored
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of gore¹

First recorded in before 900; Middle English gor(r)e “filth, moral filth,” Old English gor “dung, bull dung, dirt”; cognate with Dutch goor, Old High German gor “filth,” Old Norse gor “cud”

Origin of gore²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English gor(r)en “to pierce, stab,” derivative of gōre “spear, javelin, dart,” from Old English gār spear, shaft, arrow”; see also gore ³

Origin of gore³

First recorded before 900; Middle English gor(e), gar(e) “triangular piece of land, triangular piece of cloth,” Old English gāra “triangular piece of land, corner” (cognate with German Gehre “gusset”); akin to Old English gār “spear”; see gore ² ( def. )

Explanation

Do you like horror movies? Then you probably like gore: bloody, yucky, violent action. Gore certainly includes the bloody violence in zombie movies, but it can also refer to real-life violence, especially bloodshed and murder. If you stabbed someone with a sword, you gored them. An animal with sharp horns, like a bull, can gore a person to death. Gore is also blood that's clotting in a wound. An un-bloody, unrelated meaning of gore is a triangle-shaped piece of cloth used in making umbrellas, sails, and some clothes.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gore Gore gored goring

This year, the company is expanding a safety tool so it blocks gore or violent images sent to kids via messages.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026

This is Hollywood's latest horror film - Backrooms - and it knows its audience: one more drawn to whispered horror than A-list names, monsters and gore.

From BBC ● May 29, 2026

But “Is God Is” refuses to gussy up its allegories with too many special effects or gratuitous gore.

From Salon ● May 19, 2026

And now, just shy of his 40th birthday, Coogler is an Oscar winner, for best original screenplay for horror period piece "Sinners," an unlikely mash-up of racial segregation, Southern blues and vampire-fueled gore.

From Barron's ● Mar. 16, 2026

About the feet of the Hornrock it wound, and flowed then in a gully through the midst of a wide green gore, sloping gently down from Helm’s Gate to Helm’s Dike.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

A major search operation was launched after concerns were raised for a young girl in Gore Glen Woodland Park near Gorebridge at about 12:40 on Thursday.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

The place: Situated directly on the banks of Gore Creek, the Grand Hyatt Vail Resort & Spa is one of the rare hotels where serious fly fishing is only steps from the front door.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

Gore soberly presented the earth’s dwindling ice, rising seas and increasingly violent weather.

From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026

And that was far from the first time an election was not immediately called, as the 2000 election between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush took nearly two months to be decided.

From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026

Mr. Gore shoots me a corny wink, and then adds, “We good?”

From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick

How that happens will depend on whose oxen are gored.

From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026

They don’t really care about “the reasons” or how others were experiencing America, whose ox the past few decades was being gored.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026

In 2022, a 25-year-old woman was gored by a bison and tossed 10 feet into the air at Yellowstone, rangers said.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 6, 2024

Last weekend, an 83-year-old woman from South Carolina was gored by a bison that was defending its space, park officials said.

From New York Times ● Jun. 5, 2024

Yet it happened every summer, and every summer some nitwit tourist got gored.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

The goring happened late Sunday at the Oland Animal and Entertainment Park on the southwestern island of Oland.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 29, 2022

The Park Service said Monday’s attack was the second case in the past month “of a visitor getting too close to the animal and the bison responding to the perceived threat by goring the individual.”

From Washington Post ● Jun. 29, 2022

Monday’s incident is the second goring by a bison in the park in the last month.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2022

Even though goring accidents are common, few result in life-threatening injuries.

From New York Times ● Jul. 9, 2014

Out on the range, the horse had experienced everything, including a bull goring that had left a gouge in his rump.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand