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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

internecine en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /ˌɪntɚˈnisin/ (US)
  • /ˌɪntɚˈnɛsən/ (US)
  • /-sɪn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
  • (US) audio
  • /ˌɪntəˈniːsaɪn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
  • /ˌɪntɚˈnɛsin/ (US)

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-.

Meanings

  1. (not-comparable) Mutually destructive; most often applied to warfare.
    • Internecine strife in Gaza claimed its most senior victim yesterday when militants assassinated one of the most hated security chiefs there.
  2. (not-comparable) Characterized by struggle within a group, usually applied to an ethnic or familial relationship.
    • During the year of my engagement — 1869 — while I was out on the lecture platform, the daily letter that came for me generally brought me news from the front — by which expression I refer to the internecine war that was always going on in a friendly way between these two orthographists about the spelling of words. c. 1900, Mark Twain, Autobiography of Mark Twain, published 2010:
    • The Mongol people were plagued by internecine conflict until Genghis Khan unified them by focusing their aggression outwards on other peoples.
    • Having survived “The Long Night,” Daenerys will now be turning her attention back to the problem that originally vexed her: Cersei Lannister. It will be interesting to see how the show tries to raise the stakes of an internecine squabble between competing monarchs when compared to an existential threat to humanity’s very existence, but this series has always excelled when it goes deep on the machinations of political chicanery. 2019 April 28, Alex McLevy, “Game Of Thrones Suffers the Fog of War in the Battle against the Dead (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 31 May 2021:

Relateds

mutual assured destruction

Translations (31)

mi haupārua (mutually destructive) · el αλληλοεξοντωτικός (mutually destructive) · fi kummallekin tuhoisa (mutually destructive) · nl intern (characterized by struggle within a group) · pl samoniszczycielski (characterized by struggle within a group) · it intestino (characterized by struggle within a group) · el αλληλοκτόνος (mutually destructive) · fi kaikille tuhoisa (mutually destructive) · ru истреби́тельный (mutually destructive) · fi riitainen (characterized by struggle within a group) · fi riitaisa (characterized by struggle within a group) · de intern (characterized by struggle within a group) · nl verwoestend (mutually destructive) · fr intestin (characterized by struggle within a group) · ru междоусо́бный (characterized by struggle within a group) · mi haupārua (characterized by struggle within a group) · hi अन्तरवधीय (mutually destructive) · pl wspólnie niszczycielski (mutually destructive) · da intern (characterized by struggle within a group) · da gensidigt ødelæggende (mutually destructive) · sv inbördes (characterized by struggle within a group) · cmn 自相殘殺的 /自相残杀的 (mutually destructive) · de für beide Seiten zerstörerisch (mutually destructive) · nl wederzijds (mutually destructive) · nl onderling (characterized by struggle within a group) · de gegenseitig vernichtend (mutually destructive) · cmn 兩敗俱傷的 /两败俱伤的 (mutually destructive) · cmn 內部（衝突）的 /内部（冲突）的 (characterized by struggle within a group) · bg междуособен (characterized by struggle within a group) · no gjensidig ødeleggende (mutually destructive) · sv ömsesidigt utplånande (mutually destructive)