divide and conquer

Idioms  

1. Also,. Win by getting one's opponents to fight among themselves. For example, Divide and conquer was once a very successful policy in sub-Saharan Africa. This expression is a translation of the Latin maxim, Divide et impera (“divide and rule”), and began to appear in English about 1600.

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Example Sentences

Harris said while some use fear to divide and conquer, the animals demonstrated the power of standing together.

From Los Angeles Times

He and his wife decided they would “divide and conquer.”

From Los Angeles Times

Nikki’s poem “Fear: Eat in or Take Out,” which she read during a 2017 TED Talk, teaches us “to distill fear,” rather than let any powers-that-be persuade us to mix our fear with the hate that empowers them to divide and conquer us all.

From Los Angeles Times

We must, as Nikki told us in that TED Talk, “learn to distill fear,” rather than let any powers-that-be persuade us to mix our fear with the hate that empowers them to divide and conquer us all.

From Los Angeles Times

It’s as old as the Roman imperial strategy of divide and conquer.

From Salon