Dictionary

metaconflict en · NOUN

Etymology

From meta- + conflict.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Conflict over whether or how to engage in a conflict.
   • You face this choice repeatedly throughout a conflict; it is so fundamental that parties often get stuck in cycles of metaconflict — conflicting over whether they will engage one another in the conflict. 1985, Joyce L. Hocker, William W. Wilmot, Interpersonal conflict:
   • First, the metaconflict places severe constraints on political discourse. Second, it contracts the range of acceptable innovations and future arrangements. 1992, Donald L. Horowitz, A Democratic South Africa?, page 27:

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