bad blood
28
4.8
- noun
- /bæd blʌd/
- Informal
:
mala sangre
- Yeah, you can absolutely feel the bad blood between each other in this Battle of LA.
There's no, it's bad blood and I didn't know that.
- There's no, it's bad blood and I didn't know that.
- You know, the right wing establishment neo con types or something, you know, and there would be bad blood and enmity.
- And there's already some some bad blood, some background between tenor and Ivy.
Examples
-
The last thing I want is for there to be bad blood between us.
-
I'm aware there's bad blood between the two teams and their fan bases.
Blog text (29) -
You know, there were a lot of things like that going on at the time, a lot of bad blood between them.
-
We do not wish to have any bad blood or feelings toward anyone.
Blog text (27) -
After that. everybody knew there was bad blood between Baker and me.
-
But there is still a lot of bad blood between blacks and whites in the South.
Fiction book (2000) -
There's always been bad blood between the villagers and the people on the hill.
-
Despite appearances, EA claims there's no bad blood between it and its biggest competitor.
Blog text (3) -
There's a history of bad blood between these teams as the Devils have consistently been a thorn in the Bulldogs' side.
-
There's been a lot of bad blood between your father and me for years.
Synonyms
957
1.0
A very strong feeling of being upset or annoyed
549
1.0
A very strong dislike that can make you want to harm someone
394
1.9
A very strong dislike that can make a person want to hurt others
147
4.7
Unfriendly or angry actions and feelings toward someone
75
3.4
A strong feeling of anger and hurt toward someone
57
6.1
Strong angry feeling toward a person or group
19
9.0
A strong feeling of hate toward someone or something
16
8.0
A strong feeling of hatred toward people or groups
Antonyms
How Hostile
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase uses a metaphorical extension of 'blood' (lineage/relations) modified by 'bad', so there is a plausible connection to hostile relations but the sense 'feeling of anger or dislike' is not strictly predictable from the literal meanings. Cross-linguistic parallels (e.g. Spanish 'mala sangre') make the idiom somewhat guessable, but the metaphorical shift means a B1 learner who knows the words may not reliably infer the exact meaning without exposure.
Etymology
Bad blood may come from an old idea that blood shows family ties and a person's health; if someone's blood was thought to be 'bad' or poisoned, people saw it as a source of trouble between families, so bad blood came to mean 'a feeling of anger or dislike' between people.