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Internecine

//ˌɪntəˈniːsaɪn// adj

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Mutually destructive; most often applied to warfare. not-comparable

    "Internecine strife in Gaza claimed its most senior victim yesterday when militants assassinated one of the most hated security chiefs there."

  2. 2
    Characterized by struggle within a group, usually applied to an ethnic or familial relationship. not-comparable

    "The Mongol people were plagued by internecine conflict until Genghis Khan unified them by focusing their aggression outwards on other peoples."

Adjective
  1. 1
    characterized by bloodshed and carnage for both sides wordnet
  2. 2
    (of conflict) within a group or organization wordnet

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin internecīnus (“deadly”), from internecium (“a massacre, bloodbath; an eradication”) + -īnus. In Latin, the sememe 'between' was here not expressed by the prefix, it instead either had a somewhat emphatic meaning or meant "down, under", comparable to its use in other Latin terms related to death: see interficiō and intereō. The English current sense is thus a reanalysis of the Latin through English inter-.

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