as in brawl
a rough and often noisy fight usually involving several people
a verbal disagreement at the football game soon turned into a general melee involving scores of spectators
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of melee
During the melee, several punches were thrown.
—
Felipe Cardenas, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2025
The melee combat had a parry system, as well.
—Jordan Minor, PC Magazine, 4 Sep. 2025
More Edmonds/Getty Images All of a sudden, Freeland was yelling at Devers, Devers was pausing his home run trot to yell back, and players were streaming out of dugouts to create a melee.
—Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Sep. 2025
Leagues Cup officials are investigating the melee and decisions on possible sanctions are expected in the next day or two.
—Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for melee
Felipe Cardenas, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2025
The melee combat had a parry system, as well.
—Jordan Minor, PC Magazine, 4 Sep. 2025
More Edmonds/Getty Images All of a sudden, Freeland was yelling at Devers, Devers was pausing his home run trot to yell back, and players were streaming out of dugouts to create a melee.
—Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Sep. 2025
Leagues Cup officials are investigating the melee and decisions on possible sanctions are expected in the next day or two.
—Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 2 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for melee
Recent Examples of Synonyms for melee
Noun
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But Cherry interrupts their twosome and a brawl ensues.—
Erin Jensen,
USA Today,
12 Sep. 2025
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Months before at the same campus, a 100-person brawl had led to the cancelation of an event featuring another Turning Point USA speaker.—
Curt Devine,
CNN Money,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Still one of the NFL’s nastiest division rivalries, the game was full of skirmishes and a near-costly unnecessary roughness penalty late in the third against the Eagles that put the Cowboys in position to take the lead.—
Dan Gelston,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Sep. 2025
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Ideological skirmishes over the motives and obligations of Carpenter’s music include both sincere interrogation of its feminism and smirking counteractive reprisals to that scrutiny.—
Craig Jenkins,
Vulture,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Melee.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/melee. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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