cold-blooded

[kohld-bluhd-id]

adjective

1. designating or pertaining to animals, as fishes and reptiles, whose blood temperature ranges from the freezing point upward, in accordance with the temperature of the surrounding medium; poikilothermic.

2. without emotion or feeling; dispassionate; cruel.

   a cold-blooded murder.

3. sensitive to cold.

cold-blooded

adjective

1. having or showing a lack of feeling or pity

   a cold-blooded killing

2. informal,  particularly sensitive to cold

3. Technical term: poikilothermic. (of all animals except birds and mammals) having a body temperature that varies with that of the surroundings

cold-blooded

1. Having a body temperature that changes according to the temperature of the surroundings. Fish, amphibians, and reptiles are cold-blooded.

Other Word Forms

• cold-bloodedly adverb
• cold-bloodedness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of cold-blooded¹

First recorded in 1585–95

Example Sentences

Police said Mr Scott had been "assassinated" by Morgan, who was described as a "cold-blooded executioner who took a man's life doing his job".

From BBC

“If you don’t buy it, like I don’t buy it,” he told jurors, “then there’s nothing left but plain old cold-blooded first-degree murder.”

From Los Angeles Times

This one is all about a cold-blooded winning of Test matches.

From BBC

Within minutes of Erin Patterson walking into a tiny hospital in rural Victoria, doctor Chris Webster realised she was a cold-blooded killer.

From BBC

In an interview with The Times a day after he took office in December, Hochman said the “cold-blooded assassination of a police officer” could warrant pursuit of the death penalty.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• barbarous 
• brutal 
• callous 
• hardened 
• inhuman 
• merciless 
• ruthless