as in patricide
the crime of purposefully ending the life of your own brother or sister
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Recent Examples of fratricide
The Type-1a supernovae don’t come from solitary stars sitting around waiting to die, but from a case of pure stellar fratricide.
—
Popular Mechanics, 18 Apr. 2023
Rumors of Njinga committing fratricide or engaging in cannibalism are treated with similar caution.
—Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Feb. 2023
Each episode of Peacock’s mystery series depicts such horrors as fratricide and fraud in classic American locales: a Nevada casino, a Texas smokehouse, a Colorado ski lodge.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 9 Mar. 2023
Viewers already watched Taffy pull off the near-perfect fratricide and, as Poker Face‘s structure tends to do, the episode travels back in time to see how Charlie spots the lies and solves the crime.
—Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Feb. 2023
See All Example Sentences for fratricide
Popular Mechanics, 18 Apr. 2023
Rumors of Njinga committing fratricide or engaging in cannibalism are treated with similar caution.
—Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Feb. 2023
Each episode of Peacock’s mystery series depicts such horrors as fratricide and fraud in classic American locales: a Nevada casino, a Texas smokehouse, a Colorado ski lodge.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 9 Mar. 2023
Viewers already watched Taffy pull off the near-perfect fratricide and, as Poker Face‘s structure tends to do, the episode travels back in time to see how Charlie spots the lies and solves the crime.
—Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Feb. 2023
See All Example Sentences for fratricide
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fratricide
Noun
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The second season’s focus on the Menendez brothers’ patricide is loud, confrontational, and approaches the case from multiple perspectives at once, which can either come across as daring or incoherent.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
24 May 2025
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When Joe is implicated in financial misdeeds connected to land deals conducted on the tribe’s behalf, Mack seizes upon the news to banish Joe from the reservation, a symbolic patricide also intended to damage Gloria’s campaign.—
Christopher Sorrentino,
New York Times,
10 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Macron’s ascent to the presidency began, like a certain Greek tragedy, with parricide.—
Arthur Goldhammer,
Foreign Affairs,
12 Dec. 2018
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Pancakes and parricide, anyone?—
Joanna O'Leary,
Chron,
24 Jan. 2021
Noun
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Several generate physical action that, besides wickedness, is driven by rage — fights, accidents, assaults, pederasty, filicide, matricide.—
Stuart Dybek,
New York Times,
10 Feb. 2025
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One thing that struck most reporters was her apparent lack of remorse or grief over this rare crime — matricide, the murder of a mother by her biological child.—
Mara Bovsun,
New York Daily News,
28 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The raw power grab that excites Lady Macbeth and incites her husband to regicide feels especially pertinent now, when the dangers of autocracy loom over political discussions.—
Peter Marks,
Washington Post,
28 Mar. 2024
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Those Tories by the way have a particular penchant for political regicide before voters get the chance.—
Stephen Collinson,
CNN,
19 Jan. 2023
Noun
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After being arrested at the end of season two during her wedding for the murder of Cynthia’s (Sabrina Grdevich) husband, Tom, Georgia is now on trial for her life in the show’s third installment.—
Carly Thomas,
HollywoodReporter,
7 June 2025
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The second murder trial of Karen Read resumed Friday with testimony from a defense accident reconstruction witness, after the trial took a one-day pause due to sweltering heat in the Massachusetts court room.—
Karissa Waddick,
USA Today,
7 June 2025
Noun
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Several generate physical action that, besides wickedness, is driven by rage — fights, accidents, assaults, pederasty, filicide, matricide.—
Stuart Dybek,
New York Times,
10 Feb. 2025
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One study of maternal filicide observed that, whereas psychotic mothers often acted suddenly, depressed mothers tended to contemplate killing their children for days or weeks before acting.—
Eren Orbey,
The New Yorker,
14 Oct. 2024
Noun
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The shooting is now being investigated as a homicide.—
Lia Russell,
Sacbee.com,
7 June 2025
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Shortly after Alex’s conviction in March 2023, Smith’s death was officially ruled a homicide.—
Lynsey Eidell,
People.com,
7 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fratricide.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fratricide. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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