blood money
Americannoun
-
a fee paid to a hired murderer.
-
compensation paid to the next of kin of a slain person.
-
money obtained ruthlessly and at a cost of suffering to others.
-
money paid to an informer in order to cause somebody to be arrested, convicted, or especially executed.
noun
-
compensation paid to the relatives of a murdered person
-
money paid to a hired murderer
-
a reward for information about a criminal, esp a murderer
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"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
If a homeowner refuses to accept the blood money, the home is condemned through eminent domain and the families are evicted as “squatters.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 21, 2022
Put financial planning on the schedule, too, so you can imagine a future without her blood money.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 31, 2022
I didn't want any of it—it was all blood money; Baba would have never thrown me a party like that if I hadn’t won the tournament.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
