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Melee Has French Roots
English has no shortage of words for confused and noisy fights, some (fray, brawl, scrap) more common than others (donnybrook, fracas). Melee tends to be encountered more often in written rather than spoken English, but it is far from obscure, and has seen increasing use especially in the context of video games featuring some form of hand-to-hand combat. Such games allow players to mix it up with all manner of rivals and baddies from the comfort and safety of their home, with mix being an especially apt word alongside melee: the latter comes from the French word mêlée, which in turn comes from the Old French verb mesler, meaning "to mix."
Examples of melee in a Sentence
Jason Fanelli, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2025
The incident outside the detention center resulted in a melee and ended with the Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat who is also running for New Jersey governor, getting arrested.
—Luke Barr, ABC News, 14 May 2025
The car was shot up in the melee and the driver sped away, with the vehicle ultimately becoming disabled on the highway, Delva said.
—David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 13 May 2025
Outside, Knicks and Celtics fans clashed and multiple fights broke out in a frenetic scene, and police detained several in the melee, according to fan accounts posted on X.
The emotion came as the Knicks ran back Game 1’s epic comeback.
—Anna Lazarus Caplan, People.com, 8 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for melee
Cite this Entry
“Melee.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/melee. Accessed 27 May. 2025.
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melee
noun
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