different between sanguineous vs sanguinary

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sanguineus. Doublet of sanguine.

Adjective

sanguineous (comparative more sanguineous, superlative most sanguineous)

1. Accompanied by bloodshed; bloody.
   • 1837 Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History

     [F]or swinging of incense-pans and Eighty-three Departmental Banners, we have waving of the one sanguinous Drapeau-Rouge [red flag].

2. Eager for bloody violence; bloodthirsty.
3. Resembling or constituting blood.

Derived terms

English

Etymology

From Middle English sanguinarie, from Latin sanguin?rius.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?sæ??w?n??i/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?sæ??w?n??i/
• Hyphenation: san?gui?nar?y

Adjective

sanguinary (comparative more sanguinary, superlative most sanguinary)

1. (of an event) Involving bloodshed.

   Synonyms: bloody, gory

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, "Unity in Religion" (Google preview):

     We may not propagate religion by wars, or by sanguinary persecutions to force consciences.

   • 1887, Henry Rider Haggard, Allan Quatermain, Chapter XIII:

     " […] every one of which took its rise from some noble family that succeeded in grasping the purple after a sanguinary struggle."

2. (of a person) Eager to shed blood; bloodthirsty.

   Synonyms: bloodthirsty, bloody-minded, butcherous, slaughterous

   • c. 1730, William Broome:

     Passion […] makes us brutal and sanguinary.
3. (of an object) Consisting of, covered with, or similar in appearance to blood.

   Synonyms: bloodsoaked, bloody, gory

   • I was once, I remember, called to a patient who had received a violent contusion in his tibia, by which the exterior cutis was lacerated, so that there was a profuse sanguinary discharge […]

   • 1913, H. G. Wells, Little Wars, Section VI:

     Here is the premeditation, the thrill, the strain of accumulating victory or disaster—and no smashed nor sanguinary bodies […] , that we who are old enough to remember a real modern war know to be the reality of belligerence.

   • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka (republished by Eland, 2019; p. 117):

     We reached the Point just as a flood of sunset light was dripping from the heavens, staining the lagoon an ominous, sanguinary hue.

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with sanguine. Sanguine can mean “optimistic”, while sanguinary means “bloodthirsty, gory”.

Related terms

Translations

Noun

sanguinary (plural sanguinaries)

1. A bloodthirsty person.
2. The plant common yarrow, or herba sanguinaria (Achillea millefolium).