These words refer to the spilling of blood or to an attitude that delights in bloodshed. Bloody suggests freshly spilt blood or conflict that results in heavy casualties: the bloody hands of the suspect; the bloody , four-day battle. It is also frequently used as an epithet for someone or something responsible for wanton slaughter: the bloody Stalinist purges; Hitler’s bloody henchmen; Bloody Mary. Bloody has come to be used as a curse word for anything displeasing. This use was once taken as a blasphemous reference to Christ’s blood, but over-use has weakened its force: He cursed the bloody tricycle he had tripped over in the dark. Gory , by contrast, suggests clotted or dried blood: police photographing the gory knife. It may also refer to any production that revels in giving extremely detailed accounts of gruesome accidents or murders: a gory detective story. This use also appears in the cliché, the gory details, which suggests the loving and minute description of anything unpleasant.

The remaining words apply primarily to an eagerness to let blood, either literally or figuratively. Bloodthirsty is most specific here, suggesting a delight in inflicting harm on others, especially in armed combat: bloodthirsty generals who urged the king to declare war; bloodthirsty guerillas intent on terrorizing the native villagers. The word can also be used figuratively to describe people who enjoy reading or seeing accounts of bloody happenings: bloodthirsty audiences who dote on gory television dramas.

Sanguinary is considerably more formal than these other words, giving a literary, almost euphemistic substitute for bloody or bloodthirsty : the sanguinary oppression of the conquered nation. It may also be used merely to refer to someone in a foul temper or ugly frame of mind: a sanguinary disposition.