Exsanguinate
verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To drain (a living or dead body, or (medicine, surgery) a body part) of blood. transitive
"The substance of the brain was not congested but, on the contrary, exsanguinated."
- 2 To kill (a person or animal) by means of blood loss. transitive
"And I do have to admit that once the episode revealed that the girls killed their dads because of a chromosomal predisposition, I made a note to have my daughter tested for that "exsanguinate your father" gene!"
- 3 To bleed profusely; also, to die by means of blood loss. intransitive
"Universal precautions may not always be instituted in emergencies, as the nurse may find herself with no time to put on a pair of gloves or put on a gown and mask. A few examples of emergency cases are: patients that start to exsanguinate, vomiting blood in a projectile manner all over the room, […]"
- 4 To cause blood to drain from a body or body part, or profuse bleeding. intransitive
"A mild galvanic current stimulates functional activity, promotes absorption; a stronger current contracts and exsanguinates."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The substance of the brain was not congested but, on the contrary, exsanguinated."
Etymology
PIE word *h₁ésh₂r̥ Learned borrowing from New Latin exsanguinātus (“depleted of blood, exsanguinated; lacking blood, bloodless”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Exsanguinātus is a participial adjective formed on ex- (“out, from”) + sanguī̆s (sanguin-) (“blood”) + -ātus.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.