internecine - 4 dictionary results
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Internecine
In`ter*ne"cine\, a. [L. internecinus deadly, murderous, fr. internecare to kill, to slaughter; inter between + necare to kill; akin to Gr. ? dead. See Necromancy.] Involving, or accompanied by, mutual slaughter; mutually destructive. Internecine quarrels, horrible tumults, stain the streets with blood. --Motley.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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internecine
1663, from L. internecinus "very deadly, murderous, destructive," from internecare "kill or destroy," from inter- (q.v.) + necare "kill." Considered in the OED as misinterpreted in Johnson's Dictionary [1755], which defined it as "endeavouring mutual destruction," on association of inter- with "mutual" when the prefix supposedly is used in this case as an intensive. From Johnson, wrongly or not, has come the main modern definition of "mutually destructive."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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