metaconflict
metaconflict noun: conflict over whether or how to engage in a conflict.
Noun
metaconflict (countable and uncountable, plural metaconflicts)
- Conflict over whether or how to engage in a conflict.
- You face this choice repeatedly throughout a conflict; it is so fundamental that parties often get stuck in cycles of metaconflict — conflicting over whether they will engage one another in the conflict.1985, Joyce L. Hocker, William W. Wilmot, Interpersonal conflict
- First, the metaconflict places severe constraints on political discourse. Second, it contracts the range of acceptable innovations and future arrangements.1992, Donald L. Horowitz, A Democratic South Africa?, page 27
Forms of metaconflict
| plural | metaconflicts |
|---|
Origin of metaconflict
From meta- + conflict.
Questions about metaconflict
- What does metaconflict mean?
- Metaconflict means conflict over whether or how to engage in a conflict.
- What part of speech is metaconflict?
- Metaconflict is a noun.
- What is the plural of metaconflict?
- The plural of metaconflict is metaconflicts.
Words near metaconflict in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: metaconflict (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “metaconflict.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/metaconflict. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.