Find the word definition

Crossword clues for internecine

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
internecine
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
warfare
▪ To try to cut down on internecine warfare, Mr Florio oversaw annual meetings at which he encouraged publishers to work together.
▪ Yet over the years internecine warfare has played an important role in shaping the Republican Party.
▪ Proponents blamed internecine warfare among term-limits supporters for the setback.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
internecine warfare in the Balkans
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Proponents blamed internecine warfare among term-limits supporters for the setback.
▪ The Babylonian story begins with an internecine battle between the gods of the sweet and salt-water oceans and their offspring.
▪ To try to cut down on internecine warfare, Mr Florio oversaw annual meetings at which he encouraged publishers to work together.
▪ Vicky, Robby and I were very unlike one another in character, and that only served to exacerbate our internecine struggles.
▪ Yet over the years internecine warfare has played an important role in shaping the Republican Party.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Internecine

Internecine \In`ter*ne"cine\, a. [L. internecinus deadly, murderous, fr. internecare to kill, to slaughter; inter between + necare to kill; akin to Gr. ? dead. See Necromancy.]

  1. Involving, or accompanied by, mutual slaughter; mutually destructive.

    Internecine quarrels, horrible tumults, stain the streets with blood.
    --Motley.

  2. Of or pertaining to internal conflicts within a group; as, internecine quarrels.

    Syn: intramural.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
internecine

1660s, "deadly, destructive," from Latin internecinus "very deadly, murderous, destructive," from internecare "kill or destroy," from inter (see inter-) + necare "kill" (see noxious). Considered in the OED as misinterpreted in Johnson's Dictionary [1755], which defined it as "endeavouring mutual destruction," on association of inter- with "mutual" when the prefix supposedly is used in this case as an intensive. From Johnson, wrongly or not, has come the main modern definition of "mutually destructive."

Wiktionary
internecine

a. 1 mutually destructive; most often applied to warfare. 2 Characterized by struggle within a group, usually applied to an ethnic or familial relationship.

WordNet
internecine
  1. adj. (of conflict) within a group or organization; "an internecine feud among proxy holders"

  2. characterized by bloodshed and carnage for both sides; "internecine war" [syn: mutually ruinous]

Usage examples of "internecine".

These creations of Persian and Dialist architectonics can still be found embedded in several pieces of Internecine real estate.

Their long-standing feuds and internecine conflicts were largely why Castilla had asked him to organize Covert-One in the first place.

Although Fraxinus had been careful to direct the expedition in such a way as to avoid any companies of warriors the sentries espied, Andris had formed the impression that even they were entirely devoted to their own internecine squabbles.

CHAPTER XL INTERNECINE It must be conceived that there was some feeling of triumph at Plumstead Episcopi, when the wife of the rector returned home with her daughter, the bride elect of the Lord Dumbello.

The complex, then, that in which I was prisoner, I conjectured, might well have a clock similar to those used on Kur ships, and in the distant steel worlds, a clock doubtless once developed for use on their former world, doubtless long since destroyed in their internecine wars.

Their warrings, their strifes, their internecine intrigues and connivings were inevitable because of the tremendousness and capability -- and the limitations -- of their minds.

Their warrings, their strifes, their internecine intrigues and connivings were inevitable because of the tremendousness and capability—and the limitations—of their minds.

He had seen very early on that it was the concept behind which all of his countrymen-so long wrapped up in petty internecine warfare-could unite in order to return control of China to the hands of its native sons.

Destroyer of Vordarian's Pretendership, engineer of the peculiar victory of the third Cetagandan war, unshaken tiger-rider of Barrayar's murderous internecine politics for the past two decades.

UM #1: (And) he will rue the day he comes here and agitates, because the day he marches in the Saint-Whoever Parade is the day all the white folks put their goddamn internecine and intramural differences aside and unite.