Definition

1. 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

1. 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
2. stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate
   • unions...have never been as bloody-minded about demarcation as the shipbuilders- Spectator