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Synonyms

scream bloody murder

Idioms  

  1. Angrily protest as loudly as possible, as in When Jimmy took her teddy bear, Lauren screamed bloody murder, or Residents are screaming bloody murder about the increase in property taxes. The scream here may be either literal (as in the first example) or figurative, which is also true of invoking murder as though one were in danger of being killed. Versions of this term, such as cry murder, date from the 1400s.

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.

But “if you weigh in, someone is going to scream bloody murder that you wrote this a certain way to favor your perspective.”

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 25, 2024

My son was trying to toddle his way around to the back rooms or touching the giant signs in the waiting room, and refused to be picked up lest he scream bloody murder.

From Slate • Dec. 30, 2019

There are protections in place to guard against political meddling, and armies of career civil servants would scream bloody murder if any appointee — Democrat or Republican — violated them.

From Washington Post • Jan. 9, 2017

It has that Microsoft Office problem where it looks like most of the features are only used by 5 percent of users — who would all scream bloody murder if they ever went away.

From The Verge • May 4, 2016

“What are we supposed to tell them? Go scream bloody murder naked through the streets?”

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

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.