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

Adnan says two other Alawites were killed on the same day as his brother, adding that the bloodletting has a purpose.

Read more on BBC

In under a year, HTS has presided over no fewer than three incidents of large-scale sectarian bloodletting, in which Sunni forces associated with its regime have carried out killings of Alawites and Druze.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

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.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

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.

Read more on Salon

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

Read more on Salon

Related Words

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