bloodline
Americannoun
-
bloodlines
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bloodline
Explanation
Your bloodline is your heritage or ancestry. In other words, your bloodline includes your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on. You might talk about the bloodline of a show dog, bragging about the pedigree of your funny-looking terrier. Sometime a horse's bloodline is also a selling point, particularly when someone is betting on a race horse. You have a bloodline too, although the word more often describes the heritage of a famous or royal family. The Old English root word blod, means "blood." By the 13th century, blood also meant "family" or "heritage."
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.
See Examples For:
The “Game of Thrones” prequel boasts many dragons, most of them bound to the Targaryen royal bloodline.
From Salon ● Jun. 24, 2026
The union would potentially create a new caliphal bloodline relocated in India.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
That trust showed a $500,000 transfer from my father, explicitly described as a gift, made at the same time my father was supposedly creating his bloodline trust.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 2, 2026
A second deputy was found in Yaqoob Mujahid, Taliban founder Mullah Omar's son – young, but bringing with him his Taliban bloodline, and its potential to unify the movement.
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2026
Then Ma Charles said, “My line has daughters. The names add on, but we keep the bloodline going.”
From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia
Public office can’t be conditioned on bloodlines, whether they trace to Plymouth Rock or to those who were here before the Pilgrims arrived.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
"You're losing bloodlines as well. So it's all got an impact. It has to be thought about."
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
Whether Baffert has another Derby winner in Plutarch won’t be known for 12 weeks, but the colt certainly has the bloodlines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2026
In Cleveland, I found relatives whose faces felt like mirrors of mine, an eerie recognition that happens when bloodlines reintroduce themselves after decades of distance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
Someday he would have an army of them, but getting the bloodlines perfect was a slow business.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
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.
