Synonyms

bloodbath

American

[bluhd-bath, -bahth] / ˈblʌdˌbæθ, -ˌbɑθ /

Or blood bath

noun

plural

bloodbaths

a ruthless slaughter of a great number of people; massacre.
Informal. a period of disastrous loss or reversal.

A few mutual funds performed well in the general bloodbath of the stock market.
a widespread dismissal or purge, as of employees.

Etymology

Origin of bloodbath

First recorded in 1865–70; blood + bath ¹

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.

And so, if the Hyperscalers were to take their foot off the gas and say, “Hmm, capacity is good for the next year or so,” there would be a bloodbath in the supply chain.

From Barron's • Mar. 6, 2026

After another wild rivalry weekend, the Southeastern Conference reached the end of its bloodbath of a regular season without a single unbeaten team.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025

Executives for OpenAI, the maker of popular chatbot ChatGPT, have pushed back against the prediction that a massive white-collar job bloodbath is coming.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 5, 2025

There was the chicken breast I marinated in lemon juice, rice vinegar and balsamic reduction — a trio I would now classify, gently, as a vinaigrette bloodbath.

From Salon • Jul. 4, 2025

In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte, the best general in France, put an end to the revolutionary bloodbath.

From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023