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View synonyms for bloodletting

bloodletting

[ bluhd-let-ing ]

noun

  1. the act or practice of letting blood by opening a vein; phlebotomy.
  2. bloodshed or slaughter.
  3. Informal. severe cutbacks or reduction in personnel, appropriations, etc.:

    The company went through a period of bloodletting in the 1970s.



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Other Words From

  • bloodletter noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of bloodletting1

First recorded in 1175–1225, bloodletting is from Middle English blod letunge. See blood, let 1, -ing 1

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Example Sentences

The bloodletting in Syria has unfolded with deliberate relentlessness.

So the question is, can Lebanon survive the "Lebanonization" of Syria without another abominable round of bloodletting?

As bloodletting continues and criminals take advantage of the political chaos, ordinary Egyptians are arming themselves.

He shrugged, “I did not expect it to go on this long,” he said of the bloodletting that had cost 100,000 lives.

Meantime, Syrians still drown in bloodletting, chaos, and refugees, while the Assad side weakens only by endless inches.

I had no love for Shawnee or Mingo, but my mind held room for something besides schemes for bloodletting.

A little bloodletting would do Falkner no harm—or, for the matter of that, either of them.

This here business ain't going to be ended without a rare lot of bloodletting.

And so his calomel pill and his bloodletting lancet were carried everywhere with him by the doctor.

Bloodletting is the last effect that I ever expected to hear ascribed to this measure.

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Bloodless Revolutionblood level