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View synonyms for cold-blooded

cold-blooded

[ kohld-bluhd-id ]

adjective

  1. designating or pertaining to animals, as fishes and reptiles, whose blood temperature ranges from the freezing point upward, in accordance with the temperature of the surrounding medium; poikilothermic.
  2. without emotion or feeling; dispassionate; cruel:

    a cold-blooded murder.

  3. sensitive to cold.


cold-blooded

adjective

  1. having or showing a lack of feeling or pity

    a cold-blooded killing

  2. informal.
    particularly sensitive to cold
  3. (of all animals except birds and mammals) having a body temperature that varies with that of the surroundings Technical termpoikilothermic


cold-blooded

/ kōldblŭdĭd /

  1. Having a body temperature that changes according to the temperature of the surroundings. Fish, amphibians, and reptiles are cold-blooded.


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Derived Forms

  • ˌcold-ˈbloodedly, adverb
  • ˌcold-ˈbloodedness, noun

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Other Words From

  • cold-blooded·ly adverb
  • cold-blooded·ness noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of cold-blooded1

First recorded in 1585–95

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Example Sentences

But it lacked the one ingredient that has largely been absent from this World Cup: cold-blooded finishing in front of goal.

“Show business” was much more a haven for sentimentalists then, not for ironists like Letterman or cold-blooded comics like Leno.

His sentencing is scheduled for this week—but who do you punish when a child becomes a cold-blooded killer?

She allows she does not rank Allaway among the most cold-blooded of killers.

So Murdoch, cold-blooded and lizard-brained, knows he must preserve his own position while somehow ensuring a peaceful succession.

It wasn't any scruple of mercy, for Hicks was as cold-blooded a brute as ever glanced down a gun-barrel.

How dare you decide in this cold-blooded way whether I am to be called—ah—Tosh—or—ah—Porker!

If all the world did not wag his way, so much the worse for cold-blooded mercenary superfluous beings.

He had fired, remembering that cold-blooded slaughter at the Weedham Industries plant.

Good heavens, Odin thought, what a cold-blooded obituary for any race!

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coldcold-blooded animals