bloodletting
the act or practice of letting blood by opening a vein; phlebotomy.
bloodshed or slaughter.
Informal. severe cutbacks or reduction in personnel, appropriations, etc.: The company went through a period of bloodletting in the 1970s.
Origin of bloodletting
1Other words from bloodletting
- bloodletter, noun
Words Nearby bloodletting
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use bloodletting in a sentence
The bloodletting in Syria has unfolded with deliberate relentlessness.
A New Start To U.S. Policy In Syria Can Save Lives | Tom Perriello | February 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSo the question is, can Lebanon survive the "Lebanonization" of Syria without another abominable round of bloodletting?
Is Syria Being 'Lebanized' or is Lebanon Being 'Syrianized'? | Hussein Ibish | August 29, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTAs bloodletting continues and criminals take advantage of the political chaos, ordinary Egyptians are arming themselves.
He shrugged, “I did not expect it to go on this long,” he said of the bloodletting that had cost 100,000 lives.
In Syria, Europe & Boston, the Past Is Never Finished | Kati Marton | May 11, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTMeantime, Syrians still drown in bloodletting, chaos, and refugees, while the Assad side weakens only by endless inches.
I had no love for Shawnee or Mingo, but my mind held room for something besides schemes for bloodletting.
A Virginia Scout | Hugh PendexterA little bloodletting would do Falkner no harm—or, for the matter of that, either of them.
A Frontier Mystery | Bertram MitfordThis here business ain't going to be ended without a rare lot of bloodletting.
The Hero of Panama | F. S. BreretonAnd so his calomel pill and his bloodletting lancet were carried everywhere with him by the doctor.
Criminal Psychology | Hans Grossbloodletting is the last effect that I ever expected to hear ascribed to this measure.
British Dictionary definitions for blood-letting
/ (ˈblʌdˌlɛtɪŋ) /
the therapeutic removal of blood, as in relieving congestive heart failure: See also phlebotomy
bloodshed, esp in a blood feud
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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