a war between groups of people in the same country
Example:
- the Spanish Civil War
- 30 years of bitter civil war
Extra examples:
- He fears the violence could spark a civil war.
- Edgehill was the first battle in the English Civil War.
- The country had just emerged from the horrors of civil war.
- Both are veterans of the country's long civil war.
the war fought in the US between the northern and the southern states in the years 1861 to 1865