Meanings
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1
noun
an animal, especially a leech or biting insect, that feeds by sucking blood
The leech is a bloodsucker that attaches itself firmly to its host.
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2
noun
figurative and disapproving: a person who persistently exploits or takes from others
The landlord was denounced as a bloodsucker who profited from desperate tenants.
Thesaurus
Etymology
A compound of blood + sucker. It first describes an animal that draws blood by suction or piercing. The figurative use compares an exploitative person to a parasite draining a host, an image that also made bloodsucker a conventional name for a vampire.