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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."
Synonyms
Examples of melee in a Sentence
Lewis Gordon, Vulture, 8 Jan. 2025
Florida has a tremendous opportunity to respond to its first defeat of the season, a 106-100 melee at Kentucky.
—Steven Louis Goldstein, The Athletic, 8 Jan. 2025
The goal was counted by the officials and a melee ensued after that.
—Dan Perry, Newsweek, 3 Jan. 2025
Among the games Butler missed was Sunday night’s 104-100 victory over the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center, a game that ended with a melee that left Heat guards Tyler Herro and Terry Rozier ejected, with Rozier suspended by the NBA for Wednesday night’s game.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 1 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Melee.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/melee. Accessed 14 Jan. 2025.
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melee
noun
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