bloodshed

• "I will away to my people before they can stop me; and we will one and all perish before we allow a hair of their heads to be injured I would seek to avoid bloodshed, and must urge you, my friend, to try peaceable measures first_," said Monsieur Laporte We will endeavour, at all events, to rescue the innocent. —  Villegagnon A Tale of the Huguenot Persecution
• Homestead strike This bloodshed was not wholly in vain. —  History of the United States, Volume 5 (of 6)
• "There has been enough of bloodshed, and I must spare you, loathing you as I do, for I cannot with my own hand murder you But the King was a kindly tyrant, crushing independence from his associates as lesser folk squeeze water from a sponge. —  Chivalry
• To do with a few men and at a little cost what, by all the rules of war, should have involved strong armies and much bloodshed--that took a generalship for which the world was beginning to give him credit. —  The Long Roll
• Probably Cecil's allies were ready for any kind of bloodshed, and the boy judged that he would be wise to avoid trouble. —  Plotting in Pirate Seas

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the Same Context