have blood on one's hands
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
be responsible for someone's death or harm
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
phải chịu trách nhiệm về cái chết hoặc tổn hại
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: bloodstains from violence
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The politician felt she had blood on her hands after the war
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “have blood on one's hands” mean?
be responsible for someone's death or harm Literally: bloodstains from violence
Is “have blood on one's hands” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.