mélange

noun

mé·​lange mā-ˈlänj  mā-ˈläⁿzh 

: a mixture often of incongruous elements

a mélange of architectural styles

Did you know?

Mélange got mixed into the melting pot of English back in the 1600s. It derives from the Middle French verb mesler, which means "to mix." "Mélange" is actually one of several French contributions to the English body of words for miscellaneous mixtures. "Pastiche" (meaning "a composition made up of selections of different works," or broadly, "a disorderly mixture, hodgepodge") is borrowed from French, and "medley" and "potpourri" have roots in French, too. There's also the lesser known "gallimaufry" (meaning "hodgepodge"), which comes from the Middle French galimafree (meaning "stew").

Synonyms

• agglomerate
• agglomeration
• alphabet soup
• assortment
• botch
• clutter
• collage
• crazy quilt
• farrago
• gallimaufry
• grab bag
• gumbo
• hash
• hodgepodge
• hotchpotch
• jambalaya
• jumble
• jungle
• litter
• macédoine
• medley
• menagerie
• miscellanea
• miscellany
• mishmash
• mixed bag
• montage
• motley
• muddle
• olio
• olla podrida
• omnium-gatherum
• pastiche
• patchwork
• patchwork quilt
• potpourri
• ragbag
• ragout
• rummage
• salad
• salmagundi
• scramble
• shuffle
• smorgasbord
• stew
• tumble
• variety
• welter

Examples of mélange in a Sentence

a mélange of colors and shapes

a mélange of architectural styles

Recent Examples on the Web

Studio Central's full-size brick buildings are a melange of the architectural styles found on Hollywood Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard in California with a hint of New York City. —Caroline Reid, Forbes, 18 Jan. 2025

After gatherings that seemed like a melange of Business Roundtable mixer, U.N. General Assembly and the congressional gym, the seat of his new government moves north. —Jennifer Jacobs, CBS News, 18 Jan. 2025

Advertisement By any measure, the immediate future of Syria will be an unstable and potentially violent melange of competing groups, intense jockeying for power and settling of scores. —Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 8 Dec. 2024

Travel in June for the St. Kitts Music Festival, an annual three-day fete that brings local artists together with international stars representing a melange of genres, from R&B and soul to soca and calypso. —Carley Rojas Avila, Travel + Leisure, 4 Dec. 2024

The video, funded by the Trump campaign, features a melange of Latin-ish stuff, like Cuban musical motifs and Mexican folk dancers. —Jp Brammer, Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2024

The film follows the fate of the planet Arrakis—and its supply of melange, a unique spice and the most valuable substance in the universe—which rests in the hands of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), the untested son of a powerful duke. —Jennifer M. Wood, WIRED, 29 Oct. 2024

The track is a tender plea for unity built around dextrous acoustic guitars and a melange of light percussion, while Wonder also laces it with piano, bass, harmonica, and more. —Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 30 Aug. 2024

The Fenty mogul wore a sharp, double-breasted gray melange suit from Vivienne Westwood’s fall 2023 collection. —Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 14 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, "act of mixing, mixture," going back to Middle French meslinges, meslanges (plural), from mesler, meler "to mix" + -ange, deverbal action noun suffix (as in Old French loange "praise," vuidange "emptying, outlet"), borrowed from Old Low Franconian *-inga-, *-unga-, going back to Germanic *-ingō, *-ungō — more at meddle, -ing entry 1

First Known Use

1653, in the meaning defined above

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!

Kids Definition

mélange

noun

mé·​lange mā-ˈlänzh  -ˈlänj 

: a mixture often of dissimilar elements