blood money

American  

noun

1. a fee paid to a hired murderer.

2. compensation paid to the next of kin of a slain person.

3. money obtained ruthlessly and at a cost of suffering to others.

4. money paid to an informer in order to cause somebody to be arrested, convicted, or especially executed.

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blood money British  

noun

1. compensation paid to the relatives of a murdered person

2. money paid to a hired murderer

3. a reward for information about a criminal, esp a murderer

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Example Sentences

"When your child is… hanging on the edge of life, and someone's out there, making money off that. Well, it's filthy. It's blood money."

From BBC • Dec. 15, 2025

More progressive voices like powerful film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert joined the public chorus of outrage, denouncing "Silent Night, Deadly Night" as "blood money" because of how it would supposedly upset audiences.

From Salon • Oct. 14, 2023

Abdel-Malek would not elaborate but one of the daily newspapers in the country, the Sudani, reported that the Abu Zaid family had paid blood money to the slain driver’s family.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 31, 2023

Put financial planning on the schedule, too, so you can imagine a future without her blood money.

From Washington Post • Oct. 31, 2022

“My country pays me a little blood money every month in exchange for my leg.”

From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker