Siblicide
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The killing of a sibling, especially as observed among certain species of animals. countable, uncountable
"I continue to question the interpretation of "fatal sibling aggression" and active brood reduction as a means of maximizing productivity[…]. To me, the data clearly indicate a simple response to food availability, with the oldest young passively out-competing its smaller sibling for a limited resource. I still have not seen data to support "siblicide" as a strategy."
Example
More examples"I continue to question the interpretation of "fatal sibling aggression" and active brood reduction as a means of maximizing productivity[…]. To me, the data clearly indicate a simple response to food availability, with the oldest young passively out-competing its smaller sibling for a limited resource. I still have not seen data to support "siblicide" as a strategy."
Etymology
From sibli(ng) + -cide (suffix meaning ‘killing; killer’).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.