scrum

1 a great number of persons or creatures massed together <I had to fight my way through the scrum of holiday shoppers at the mall> Synonyms army, bike [chiefly Scottish], cram, crush, drove, flock, herd, horde, host, legion, mass, mob, multitude, press, rout, crowd, swarm, throngRelated Words masses, millions, rabble, rabblement, riffraff; gaggle; heap, mountain, pile; jam, logjam

2 a physical dispute between opposing individuals or groups <when the server spilled a drink on a customer, they got into a bit of a scrum before being separated> Synonyms battle, clash, combat, conflict, contest, dustup, fracas, fray, hassle, scrap, scrimmage, fight, scuffle, skirmish, struggle, tussleRelated Words pitched battle, rough-and-tumble; affray [chiefly British], battle royal, brawl, broil, donnybrook, free-for-all, melee (also mêlée), mix-up, ruckus, ruction; blows, fistfight, fisticuffs, grapple, handgrips, punch-out, punch-up [chiefly British], slugfest; confrontation, duel, face-off, joust; altercation, argle-bargle [chiefly British], argument, argy-bargy [chiefly British], contretemps, controversy, cross fire, disagreement, dispute, falling-out, kickup, misunderstanding, quarrel, row, spat, squabble, tangle, tiff, wrangle; catfightNear Antonyms truce

3 British  a place of uproar and confusion <London's tube is quite a scrum during rush hour> Synonyms babel, bedlam, circus, madhouse [British], three-ring circusRelated Words bustle, commotion, pandemonium, racket, ruckus, tumult, turmoil; brouhaha, clamor, clatter, din, hubbub, noise; chaos, confusion, disarrangement, disarray, disorder, havoc, hell, mess, muss, shamblesNear Antonyms arcadia, heaven, paradise, utopia; order, orderliness, organization; calm, lull, peace, respite; hush, quiet, silence, stillness