blood sport

noun

1
: a sport or contest (such as hunting or cockfighting) involving bloodshed
2
: a ruthless or cutthroat competition or conflict
… the blood sport that is political blogging.Massimo Calabresi

Examples of blood sport in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Without mass death to keep the population in check, the herd would have to be culled by way of sterilization, slavery, or blood sport. Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 19 Feb. 2025 Either way the worship and the blood sport go hand in hand. Vulture Editors, Vulture, 4 Feb. 2025 If the blood sport is the natural culmination of an economic death match that everyone everywhere competes in, then the solution to this larger problem must lie outside the game. James Poniewozik, New York Times, 26 Dec. 2024 Gender policing is now a blood sport online, where women who seem to defy traditional expectations of staying hot, quiet, chaste, and weak are humiliated and attacked en masse. Rebecca Jennings, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018 See All Example Sentences for blood sport

Word History

First Known Use

1886, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of blood sport was in 1886

Browse Nearby Entries

Cite this Entry

“Blood sport.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blood%20sport. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!