internecine: [17] Etymologically, internecine denotes ‘attended by great slaughter’. Its modern connotations of ‘conflict within a group’, which can be traced back to the 18th century (Dr Johnson in his Dictionary 1755 defines it as ‘endeavouring mutual destruction’), presumably arise from the standard interpretation of inter- as ‘among, between’. But in fact in the case of internecine it was originally used simply as an intensive prefix.
The word was borrowed from Latin internecīnus, a derivative of internecāre ‘slaughter, exterminate’. This was a compound verb formed with the intensive inter- from necāre ‘kill’ (a relative of English necromancy and pernicious). => necromancy, pernicious
internecine (adj.)
1660s, "deadly, destructive," from Latin internecinus "very deadly, murderous, destructive," from internecare "kill or destroy," from inter (see inter-) + necare "kill" (see noxious). 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."
实用例句
1. The whole episode has drawn attention again to internecine strife in the ruling party.
整个事件再次引起人们对执政党内部纷争的关注。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The internecine strife was caused by a shortage of food.
这次内部冲突，是由于食物匮乏而引致的。
来自辞典例句
3. Strife was internecine during the next fortnight.
在以后两个星期的冲突中我们两败俱伤.
来自辞典例句
4. Marx foresaw constant internecine warfare among capitalists, resulting in and fewer controlling vaster and vaster empires.
马克思预见到资本家会不断自相残杀, 结果将造成越来越少的人控制着越来越大的帝国.
来自互联网
5. The strike with acerb contradictory conflict, massive capital, shut out, make both sides of capital internecine.