internecine

UK/ˌɪntəˈniːsaɪn/US/ˌɪntɚˈnɛsin/

adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,759 of 15,258Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Internecine means destructive to both sides within one group. Internecine warfare, internecine feuding, an internecine struggle.

The modern sense is fighting inside a party or a family, and the mutual ruin is the point. The Latin meant simply slaughterous, and the inter- was read as between only later, which is how the word drifted.

Definitions of internecine

1adjectiveinternecineDestructive to both sides within one group.C2
“Two years of internecine argument left the party unelectable.”

internecine is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin internecinus meant deadly, from internecare, to slaughter; the inter- was an intensifier, and English later read it as between.

Latin
internecīnus — deadly
English, today
internecine

Built from

internecium · Latin — a massacre, bloodbath; an eradication

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 inter-.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

internecine in the wild

Thus, any war of succession is by definition an internecine war, but not necessarily a non-international armed conflict.
List of non-international armed conflicts
Still an infant, Chilperic was spirited to a monastery to protect his life from the internecine feuding of his family.
Chilperic II
Atakebune were Japanese warships of the 16th and 17th century used during the internecine Japanese wars for political control and unity of all Japan.
Atakebune
The Battle of Golpejera also known as Golpejar, was an internecine battle among Christian kingdoms fought in early January 1072.
Battle of Golpejera
However, following Madog's death in 1160, his son and heir Llywelyn was killed, and the dynasty and kingdom of Powys disintegrated owing to renewed internecine violence.
Lleision (dynasty)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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