internecine
/ˌɪntəˈniːsʌɪn
/adjective
1Destructive to both sides in a conflict: the region’s history of savage internecine warfare...
- Why this happened is not exactly known, but warfare and internecine conflict caused by a rising population may be at least partly to blame.
- In a fiercely tribal society, with traditions of internecine warfare that lasted at least until ten years ago, defensible towns and houses were vital.
- The fear is of a repetition of the 1992 events when groups which now make up the Northern Alliance captured Kabul from Afghanistan's last pro-Moscow government but then wrecked it with internecine warfare.
Synonyms
deadly, bloody, violent, fierce, destructive, ruinous;
civil, internal, family
1.1Relating to conflict within a group: the party shrank from the trauma of more internecine strife...
- There is certainly conflict of an internecine nature going on within me at the moment.
- But those internecine debates within the Social Security faction are, at the moment, every bit as irrelevant as the internecine debates within the phase out faction.
- But if you believe that the real fight for power today is an internecine one taking place within the Labour Party rather than between political parties, it seems more than feasible.
Origin
Mid 17th century (in the sense 'deadly, characterized by great slaughter'): from Latin internecinus, based on inter- 'among' + necare 'to kill'.