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Synonyms

bloodstained

American  
[bluhd-steynd] / ˈblʌdˌsteɪnd /

adjective

  1. stained with blood.

    a bloodstained knife.

  2. guilty of murder, slaughter, or bloodshed.

bloodstained British  
/ ˈblʌdˌsteɪnd /

adjective

  1. stained by or covered in blood

"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

Etymology

Origin of bloodstained

1590–1600; blood + stained; stain, -ed 2

Vocabulary lists containing bloodstained

Spelling Practice, Unit 1

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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.

Gory giveaway: A replica bloodstained jersey from a baseball great.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 11, 2026

Olsen cut the liver into small pieces, offering it with bloodstained fingers to friends and family gathered around the table.

From Barron's • Feb. 6, 2026

When the New York Times profiled Ms. Rodríguez as a “moderate,” a backlash erupted: Thousands on X ridiculed the paper for whitewashing her bloodstained record.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 6, 2026

But when, a month after I’d mailed in the bloodstained paper, my microplastics test results arrived, those small efforts suddenly felt meaningless.

From Slate • May 28, 2025

One was an elegant Pentoshi, grey-haired and clad in silk but for his cloak, a ragged thing sewn from dozens of strips of tom, bloodstained cloth.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

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.