internecine
3
9.9
- adjective
- /ˌɪntərˈnisiːn/
- Formal
:
internecino
- The organization's internecine conflict weakened its ability to achieve common goals.
- internecine struggle
- internecine war
- internecine conflict
There's plenty of energy, as we will see, devoted to fights within Islam, internecine religious fighting, not tribal feuding.
- There's plenty of energy, as we will see, devoted to fights within Islam, internecine religious fighting, not tribal feuding.
- He says it goes on the internecine hate.
Examples
-
One of the most significant episodes of such internecine strife took place in Dayton, Tennessee, in 1925.
Academic text (2011) -
In addition, there remain traditional South African problems with internecine rivalries among small political parties and factions.
Academic text (2006) -
Those wise guys who vanished over the last seven years, you think that was internecine war?
-
I do not care one whit about your internecine war with WRSA.
Blog text (30) -
The main drive for Dingiswayo's wars of conquest was his desire to end the internecine fighting between different communities and to bring them under a single government.
Academic text (1999) -
A second problem is the PLO legitimacy crisis, of which the internecine violence is only a symptom.
Academic text (1993) -
There's plenty of energy, as we will see, devoted to fights within Islam, internecine religious fighting, not tribal feuding.
-
Differences over how to confront the peace process had magnified internecine struggle among Khmer Rouge leaders.
Academic text (2002) -
Nevertheless, if the bankruptcy community does not renew its tradition of collaborative cooperation, it risks the alternatives that internecine squabbling invites.
Academic text (2017) -
You constantly fracture into single-issue, internecine warfare tribes, slitting your own throats when so many opportunities present themselves.
Blog text (12)
Synonyms
6
7.5
Involving conflict between small groups inside a larger group
1
9.3
Violent fighting between people of the same family, group or nation
Antonyms
How Destructive
Surface Forms
Morphology
internecine = inter + nec + ine
Although the prefix 'inter-' is recognizable, the core morpheme ('nec') is not a standalone English word and the specific sense 'mutually destructive / within a group' is not reliably derivable by an average learner from the visible parts.
Etymology
Internecine comes from Latin parts inter- meaning 'between' and necare meaning 'to kill', and the inter- is the same 'between' you see in international. So it now means a fight inside a group that destroys or badly hurts all the sides involved.