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Glite Dictionary
to shed blood

to shed blood

5 7.6
To lose blood or cause bleeding during violent fighting
  • phrasal verb
  • NSFW
translation icon : derramar sangre
  • The soldiers were ordered not to shed blood unless absolutely necessary.

Examples

  • As long as there are those who are ready to shed blood in the name of religion, the world will never know peace.

    Blog text (25)

  • You have made great wars, and have shed blood in great abundance.

    David (1997)

  • Yes, it is our right, but those rights have been paid for with many lives and shed blood.

    Blog text (13)

  • I shed blood for the Revolution.

    Goya's Ghosts (2006)

  • On your souls, do not shed blood in the house of God!

    Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)

  • I'm not the first man to shed blood in God's name.

    Quills (2000)

  • It will not be necessary to shed blood.

    Sign of the Pagan (1954)

  • The decision to shed blood will continue to be divisive.

    Academic text (1994)

  • We shall shed blood.

    Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (2000)

  • The Tiananmen incident made the Chinese people realize that Communist rulers would not hesitate to shed blood to defend their power.

    Academic text (1998)

Synonyms

to bleed
vsto shed blood
331 1.0

To lose blood from the body because of an injury or illness

is used for causing injury or death in violent or sacrificial situations
to bleed out
vsto shed blood
  • NSFW
51 7.7

To lose so much blood from an injury that you may die

is used for causing injury or death in violent or sacrificial contexts
to hemorrhage
vsto shed blood
  • US
32 7.8

To lose a large amount of blood from a broken blood vessel

is used for causing injury or death especially in violent or sacrificial settings

Antonyms

to save
∞ 1.0

Rescue someone or something from danger

to heal
481 1.2

To become healthy again after an injury, illness, or emotional pain

How Violent

to massacre
  • Offensive
48 7.4
to shed blood
  • NSFW
5 7.6
to wound
617 2.3
to injure
53 1.6
to harm
738 1.0

Surface Forms

shed blood infinitive
shed blood past
shed blood past participle
shedding blood present participle
sheds blood third person singular

Morphology

shed + blood

The meaning 'to lose or cause loss of blood' is directly and literally compositional from 'shed' (to let flow or spill) + 'blood' (the bodily fluid), so a learner who knows both words can infer the sense. This construction is cross-linguistically common and follows a straightforward verb + noun pattern, making it immediately understandable at B1.

Etymology

The phrase shed blood may come from old battle and sacrifice scenes where people literally shed their blood, that is, they bled and sometimes died. That's why today it means 'to lose blood' or 'to cause injury or death'.