SANGUINARY Synonyms: 92 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How does the adjective 'sanguinary' contrast with its synonyms?

The words bloody and gory are common synonyms of sanguinary . While all three words mean "affected by or involving the shedding of blood," sanguinary applies especially to something attended by, or someone inclined to, bloodshed. // the Civil War was America's most sanguinary conflict

Q: When is 'bloody' a more appropriate choice than 'sanguinary'?

The synonyms bloody and sanguinary are sometimes interchangeable, but bloody is applied especially to things that are actually covered with blood or are made up of blood. // bloody hands

Q: When is it sensible to use 'gory' instead of 'sanguinary'?

The words gory and sanguinary can be used in similar contexts, but gory suggests a profusion of blood and slaughter. // exceptionally gory , even for a horror movie

sanguinary

adjective

ˈsaŋ-gwə-ˌner-ē

Definition of sanguinary next

as in murderous

eager for or marked by the shedding of blood, extreme violence, or killing a movie so sanguinary that I covered my eyes during at least half of it

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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How does the adjective sanguinary contrast with its synonyms?

The words bloody and gory are common synonyms of sanguinary. While all three words mean "affected by or involving the shedding of blood," sanguinary applies especially to something attended by, or someone inclined to, bloodshed.

the Civil War was America's most sanguinary conflict

When is bloody a more appropriate choice than sanguinary?

The synonyms bloody and sanguinary are sometimes interchangeable, but bloody is applied especially to things that are actually covered with blood or are made up of blood.

bloody hands

When is it sensible to use gory instead of sanguinary?

The words gory and sanguinary can be used in similar contexts, but gory suggests a profusion of blood and slaughter.

exceptionally gory, even for a horror movie

Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of sanguinary That battle would send Bonaparte on a dizzying journey up — and down and up and down — the greasy pole of French politics and military promotions, and it’s staged by Scott with sanguinary detail: Blood will spurt, spray and splatter throughout the battles that made him and undid him. —

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 21 Nov. 2023 Of course, things don’t always go to plan, and apart from serving up varying portions of Reddick, Ian McShane and main course Keanu Reeves, the films are a sanguinary festival of fisticuffs, karate chops, spinning kicks, gunfire, stabbings, chases and exploding heads. —

Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 20 Sep. 2023 But most of the works in this show of 28 artists come from some place closer to the end, where violent outcomes are expressed in sanguinary hues. —

Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 26 May 2023 Last month, Uganda finally declared the country free of hemorrhagic fevers after three months of battling these seemingly omnipresent sanguinary viruses. —

Rebecca Kreston, Discover Magazine, 24 Nov. 2012 See all Example Sentences for sanguinary

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sanguinary

Adjective

The inmates, all of whom have been convicted of murderous crimes, have become close with a group of contemplative Catholic nuns who live half an hour away, in a convent in Waco.

— Daniel Zalewski, The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025
Swastikas are a notorious symbol of hate, antisemitism and White supremacy tracing to the murderous legacy of Germany’s Nazi Party and the Holocaust.

— Alaa Elassar, CNN, 8 Feb. 2025