Meanings
- not comparableMutually 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.
- not comparableCharacterized by struggle within a group, usually applied to an ethnic or familial relationship.
The Mongol people were plagued by internecine conflict until Genghis Khan unified them by focusing their aggression outwards on other peoples.
2 more examples
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 2010Having 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
Synonyms & antonyms
adjective(of conflict) within a group or organization
adjectivecharacterized by bloodshed and carnage for both sides
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latininternecīnus“deadly”
- Englishinternecine
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-.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic دَاخِلِيّ
- دَاخِلِيّ (dāḵiliyy)characterized by struggle within a group
Bulgarian междуособен
- междуособен (mežduosoben)characterized by struggle within a group
Chinese Mandarin 自相殘殺的 /自相残杀的, 兩敗俱傷的 /两败俱伤的
- 自相殘殺的 /自相残杀的 (zìxiāngcánshā de)mutually destructive
- 兩敗俱傷的 /两败俱伤的 (liǎngbàijùshāng de)mutually destructive
- 內部（衝突）的 /内部（冲突）的characterized by struggle within a group
Danish gensidigt ødelæggende, intern
- gensidigt ødelæggendemutually destructive
- interncharacterized by struggle within a group
Dutch verwoestend, wederzijds
- verwoestendmutually destructive
- wederzijdsmutually destructive
- onderlingcharacterized by struggle within a group
- interncharacterized by struggle within a group
Finnish kummallekin tuhoisa, kaikille tuhoisa
- kummallekin tuhoisamutually destructive
- kaikille tuhoisamutually destructive
- riitainencharacterized by struggle within a group
- riitaisacharacterized by struggle within a group
French intestin
- intestincharacterized by struggle within a group
German gegenseitig vernichtend, für beide Seiten zerstörerisch
- gegenseitig vernichtendmutually destructive
- für beide Seiten zerstörerischmutually destructive
- interncharacterized by struggle within a group
Greek αλληλοεξοντωτικός, αλληλοκτόνος
- αλληλοεξοντωτικός (alliloexontotikós)mutually destructive
- αλληλοκτόνος (alliloktónos)mutually destructive
Hindi अन्तरवधीय
- अन्तरवधीय (antaravdhīya)mutually destructive
Italian intestino
- intestinocharacterized by struggle within a group
Māori haupārua, haupārua
- haupāruamutually destructive
- haupāruacharacterized by struggle within a group
Norwegian gjensidig ødeleggende
- gjensidig ødeleggendemutually destructive
Polish wspólnie niszczycielski, samoniszczycielski
- wspólnie niszczycielskimutually destructive
- samoniszczycielskicharacterized by struggle within a group
Russian истреби́тельный, междоусо́бный
- истреби́тельный (istrebítelʹnyj)mutually destructive
- междоусо́бный (meždousóbnyj)characterized by struggle within a group
Swedish ömsesidigt utplånande, inbördes
- ömsesidigt utplånandemutually destructive
- inbördescharacterized by struggle within a group
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with internecine
Cite this entry
internecine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/internecine
“internecine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/internecine. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “internecine,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/internecine.
Source: internecine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.