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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Examples Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of melee
Then at episode’s end, a melee took out several more players.
—
Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 26 Dec. 2024
The Rangers came out of the melee with a power play, but that didn’t lead to a goal.
—Peter Baugh, The Athletic, 18 Dec. 2024
Campus police had no effective plan to work with external law enforcement and failed to take command on the night of the melee — leading the LAPD and the California Highway Patrol to devise an ad hoc response.
—Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2024
After Florida's 31-11 win at Florida State on Saturday, Gators players took their school flag to midfield of Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, leading to a melee and a tense confrontation between Florida and FSU coaches Billy Napier and Mike Norvell.
—David K. Li, NBC News, 2 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for melee 
Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 26 Dec. 2024
The Rangers came out of the melee with a power play, but that didn’t lead to a goal.
—Peter Baugh, The Athletic, 18 Dec. 2024
Campus police had no effective plan to work with external law enforcement and failed to take command on the night of the melee — leading the LAPD and the California Highway Patrol to devise an ad hoc response.
—Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2024
After Florida's 31-11 win at Florida State on Saturday, Gators players took their school flag to midfield of Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, leading to a melee and a tense confrontation between Florida and FSU coaches Billy Napier and Mike Norvell.
—David K. Li, NBC News, 2 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for melee
Thesaurus Entries Near melee
Cite this Entry
“Melee.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/melee. Accessed 14 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share