If the blood supply is contaminated, diseases such as hepatitis and AIDS can be passed to someone who receives a blood transfusion.
First recorded in 1875–80
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Big Bear eagle Jackie is in critical condition after a blood transfusion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Another died after being given a blood transfusion.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Waldorf had spelled out the catch-22 in her journal that morning: “If I need a blood transfusion and it stabilizes my condition, they cannot induce. If my temp continues to spike then they can induce.”
From Salon ● May 27, 2026
He remembered that on Christmas Day 1988 - after an accident - he had been given a blood transfusion at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2025
As he was dying, word spread throughout Hayti that he needed a blood transfusion.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
An estimated 10% of U.S. transfusion blood is drained from paid donors by commercial supply houses, which sell the blood for profit.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Brigham team weighed the surgeons' discarded sponges to measure the patient's blood loss and thus make sure that he got enough, not too much, transfusion blood.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
