bad blood

B

bad blood,
or, ill blood

Meaning

• to have ill feelings towards someone
• to feel bitterness towards someone
• the feeling of hostility or ill will
• a serious feud or long-standing grudge
• the hatred between two or more people
• a feeling of resentment towards people
• feeling of hate between people because of any arguments in the past.

Example Sentences

1. The villagers say the arson attack may have been the result of bad blood between the two families.
2. They have so much bad blood towards each other that it worries me a lot.
3. Ever since their divorce, there has been a lot of bad blood between the two families.
4. Please, don’t stir up any ill blood.
5. There was bad blood between the two families in Romeo and Juliet.
6. There was bad blood between the two ethnic groups.
7. The bad blood within their family makes it hard for their kids to communicate with themselves.
8. Oh! So they don’t talk to each other because they have ill blood?

Origin

It is an idiom that is said to be derived from Blood Feuds, which is a novel from the 1800s that expresses the blood feuds that have continued for generations between families, clans, and ethnic groups. It is now used to describe anger or hostility between individuals or groups, most often in the form of bad blood.

An idiom with a similar meaning is “ill blood.”

Similar idiom: blood feuds.

Anger, Blood, Enemy