in cold blood
Lacking any warmth
In cold blood describes a killing or violent act committed deliberately and without emotion—calculated rather than provoked by passion or self-defense.
The phrase suggests chilling premeditation: He murdered them in cold blood.
The metaphor contrasts with "hot blood," where anger or fear might explain violence.
- true crimeGenre covering actual offenses
- murderDeliberate unlawful killing
- nonfictionLiterature about real events
- journalismNews gathering and dissemination
Kansas · killers · Smith · documentary · senseless · random · infamous · chilling
Showing no clemency
- pitilessLacking any compassion
- remorselessLacking guilt or pity
- callousCruelly insensitive to others
- cruelWillfully causing suffering
brutal · heartless · savage · vicious · inhuman · barbaric · unsparing · murderous
Consciously chosen, not accidental
- intentionalDone on purpose
- calculatedFigured out mathematically
- plannedDecided on beforehand
- aforethoughtPrior deliberate intention
methodical · preconceived · orchestrated · conspired · plotted · schemed · forethought · preplanned
Capote
- true crimeGenre covering actual offenses
- murderDeliberate unlawful killing
- nonfictionLiterature about real events
journalism · Kansas · killers · Smith · documentary · senseless · random · infamous · chilling
merciless
Showing no clemency
- pitilessLacking any compassion
- remorselessLacking guilt or pity
- callousCruelly insensitive to others
cruel · brutal · heartless · savage · vicious · inhuman · barbaric · unsparing · murderous · homicidal
deliberate
Consciously chosen, not accidental
- intentionalDone on purpose
- calculatedFigured out mathematically
- plannedDecided on beforehand
aforethought · methodical · preconceived · orchestrated · conspired · plotted · schemed · forethought · preplanned · willful
dispassionate
Free from emotional involvement
- detachedApart or uninvolved
- unemotionalLacking outward feeling
- unfeelingWithout compassion or emotion
impassive · stoic · numb · unmoved · indifferent · apathetic · frigid · icy · clinical · mechanical
- Cold Expressionsbone-chilling, frigid, icy, frosty, chilly
in cold bloodpassionately
With intense emotion
emotionally · in the heat of the moment · in a frenzy · heatedly · impulsively
in cold bloodprovocation
Act that triggers response
justifiably · defensively · accidentally · unintentionally · involuntarily
in cold bloodimpulsively
Without prior deliberation
spontaneously · reactively · instinctively · reflexively · on impulse
cool, cold, blood, bloody, coldness, cooled, colder, coldly, blooded