Skip to main content
full blood

full blood

1 7.4
A person or animal whose parents are both from the same pure group
  • noun
  • /fʊl blʌd/
  • Archaic
translation icon : de pura sangre
  • Many breeders prefer to sell full blood animals to ensure high quality in their litters.
  • full-blood Indian
  • full-bloods and mixed

Examples

  • The first post-IRA council, elected in January 1936, contained only one full-blood.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Although the exact number is uncertain, some of the full-blood boarders had parents who had joined one of the mission churches.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Like we want siblings that are full blood related.

  • And the situation was further aggravated by the fact that I was a "full blood," which is always seen as a threat.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Superintendent Guy Robertson, council members discovered, helped full-blood leaders write the amendment.

    Academic text (1999)
  • A few mentioned conflicts between "full-bloods" and those of mixed racial ancestry as being an issue.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Beginning in 1929, full-bloods began to make appeals for all Blackfeet to work together as a tribe to solve its problems.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Full-bloods were also hopeful that the tribe's putative oil reserves would provide them with a real income.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Whether of Metis or full-blood heritage, the majority of the children who boarded with the missionaries were female.

    Academic text (2000)
  • The students' degree of Indian blood ranged from as little as 1/128 to full-blood, and their cultural allegiances also varied.

    Academic text (1991)

Synonyms

purebred
vsfull blood
  • Specialized
4 4.2

An animal whose parents are from the same family line and that often has papers showing its family

refers broadly to descent from the same breed without requiring documented proof
pureblood
vsfull blood
  • Specialized
1 7.7

Having only parents and grandparents from one breed recorded in papers

describes descent from the same breed without needing formal ancestral records

Antonyms

4.8

An animal or plant bred from parents of different breeds, sometimes from different species

How Pure

full blood
  • Archaic
1 7.4
purebred
  • Specialized
11 4.6
crossbred
4.8

Surface Forms

full blood singular
full bloods plural

Morphology

full + blood

The meaning 'entirely of the same lineage/purebred' is directly derivable from combining 'full' (completely) with 'blood' (lineage/heredity). This is a compositional and cross-linguistically common way to express 'purebred', so a B1 learner who knows both words should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Full blood may come from the old idea that blood means family or breed. If both parents are from the same group, the child or animal is full of that blood, so today full blood means 'a person or animal descended entirely from one pure breed or race'.