1
a
or scrummage
: a rugby play in which the forwards of each side come together in a tight formation and struggle to gain possession of the ball using their feet when it is tossed in among them
also
: the arrangement of players in a scrum
2
a
British
: madhouse sense 2
b
: a usually tightly packed or disorderly crowd : throng
scrummage
intransitive verb
Examples of scrum in a Sentence
I had to fight my way through the scrum of holiday shoppers at the mall.
when the server spilled a drink on a customer, they got into a bit of a scrum before being separated
Recent Examples on the Web
Momoa, who leads Kamehameha’s forces from the front, had to balance spearing and pummelling his way through Keōua’s army on camera with coordinating other units following other characters through the bloody scrum.
—
Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 23 Sep. 2025
In 2017, when the white American painter Dana Schutz exhibited her painting Open Casket, which depicted the corpse of Emmett Till, at the Whitney Biennial, there was a scrum of protest online and at the museum.
—Madeline Leung Coleman, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2025
The baying scrum around the Renaissance masterpiece—and his height at the time—precluded a glimpse of her crook of a smile.
—Mahoro Seward, Vogue, 16 Sep. 2025
Jones delivered the news in a postgame scrum after his team’s 40-37 victory over the New York Giants that needed overtime to be settled.
—Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 14 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scrum
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Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 23 Sep. 2025
In 2017, when the white American painter Dana Schutz exhibited her painting Open Casket, which depicted the corpse of Emmett Till, at the Whitney Biennial, there was a scrum of protest online and at the museum.
—Madeline Leung Coleman, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2025
The baying scrum around the Renaissance masterpiece—and his height at the time—precluded a glimpse of her crook of a smile.
—Mahoro Seward, Vogue, 16 Sep. 2025
Jones delivered the news in a postgame scrum after his team’s 40-37 victory over the New York Giants that needed overtime to be settled.
—Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 14 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scrum
Cite this Entry
“Scrum.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scrum. Accessed 30 Sep. 2025.
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