bloody-minded
/'blʌdi/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate: Characterized by a deliberately unhelpful, argumentative, or contrary attitude.
- Marked by eagerness to resort to violence and bloodshed: (Chiefly British, dated) Having a violent, bloodthirsty, or savage disposition.
Usage
- The primary modern meaning describes a person's difficult, uncooperative, and deliberately awkward attitude.
- The secondary, more literal meaning is now less common and often considered dated or chiefly British.
Examples
- Adjective (Uncooperative):
- The bloody-minded clerk refused to process the application without the most obscure form.
- His bloody-minded insistence on following every minor rule delayed the project for weeks.
- Adjective (Violent):
- The bloody-minded tyrant showed no mercy to his enemies. (This usage is now less frequent.)
Advanced Usage
- "to be in a bloody-minded mood": to be in a state of mind where one is deliberately difficult or contrary.
- Don't ask him for a favor today; he's in a particularly bloody-minded mood.
Variants and Related Words
- Bloody-mindedness (noun): The quality or state of being bloody-minded.
- The sheer bloody-mindedness of the bureaucracy was astonishing.
Synonyms
- Obstinate: Stubbornly refusing to change one's opinion or chosen course of action.
- Contrary: Perversely inclined to disagree or to do the opposite of what is expected or desired.
- Intransigent: Unwilling or refusing to change one's views or to agree about something.
- Pugnacious: Eager or quick to argue, quarrel, or fight. (Closer to the secondary meaning)
Antonyms
- Cooperative: Involving mutual assistance in working toward a common goal.
- Compliant: Inclined to agree with others or obey rules.
- Amenable: Open and responsive to suggestion; easily persuaded or controlled.
Adjective
- marked by eagerness to resort to violence and bloodshed
- bloody-minded tyrants
- bloodthirsty yells
- went after the collaborators with a sanguinary fury that drenched the land with blood-G.W.Johnson
- stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate
- unions...have never been as bloody-minded about demarcation as the shipbuilders- Spectator