fratricide
Americannoun
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the act of killing one's brother or a member of one’s own tribe or group.
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a person who kills their brother or a member of their own tribe or group.
noun
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the act of killing one's brother
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a person who kills his brother
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military the destruction of or interference with a nuclear missile before it can strike its target caused by the earlier explosion of a warhead at a nearby target
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fratricide
First recorded in 1490–1500; fratricide ( def. 1 ) from Middle French, from Late Latin frātricīdium, equivalent to frātricīd(a) frātri- (combining form of frāter ) brother + -cīda -cide + -ium noun suffix; fratricide ( def. 2 ) from Middle French, from frātricīda
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In a letter transmitting the group's findings on the Fratricide concept, Townes expressed qualified approval for the Dense Pack option but warned it might not take long for Soviet planners to foil this technique.
From Time Magazine Archive
Says IBM Physicist Richard Garwin: "Fratricide may well be true, but it is irrelevant because it can be defeated."
From Time Magazine Archive
Friendship and Fratricide is an ingenious but grotesque book.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Pentagon established a Fratricide Task Force to develop ways to avoid such accidents.
From Time Magazine Archive
Abel the Fratricide, King of Denmark was buried in unconsecrated ground, and still haunts the wood of Poole, near the city of Sleswig.
From Real Ghost Stories by Stead, Estelle W.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
