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as in throng
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 & Similar Words

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Example 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 scrum Venture capitalists have written large checks to a scrum of startups to find new ways to apply artificial intelligence to just about everything. Rashi Shrivastava, Forbes.com, 27 May 2025 The Packers, who lost to the Eagles in the first round of the playoffs last season, have been among several teams voicing their distaste for the evolution of the traditional quarterback sneak into an all-out scrum. Dave Campbell, Chicago Tribune, 20 May 2025 The media scrum was so intense that consular officials could be overheard threatening to cancel the briefing if journalists didn’t calm down. Clare Sebastian, CNN Money, 15 May 2025 So every year, there’s both a scrum and hurt feelings. Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 7 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for scrum
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scrum
Noun
  • Last season, before the final home series, Getz spoke to a throng of media inside the tunnels of Rate Field in Chicago.
    Sam Blum, New York Times, 7 July 2025
  • Along with the headline-grabbing job culls in the federal government which began earlier this year, a throng of companies have already laid off workers so far in 2025, including Microsoft, UPS, Dell, BP and others.
    Aliss Higham, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 July 2025
Noun
  • Yet Villa were short of cash and the lack of financial headroom brought skirmishes with profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
    Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 8 July 2025
  • Could a Stronger Federal System Have Prevented the Texas Disaster and is this even the question to ask? America’s approach to disaster relief has long been one of the recurring skirmishes in the larger political theatre of governance.
    Alexander Puutio, Forbes.com, 8 July 2025
Noun
  • No disrespect to those who missed it, but those early screenings of Roland Emmerich's Independence Day were barely contained bedlam.
    Jordan Hoffman, EW.com, 4 July 2025
  • The overthrow of Yemen’s government hatched Houthi dominance; the fall of Libya’s Muammar al-Qaddafi yielded bedlam, instability, and violence.
    HUSSEIN AGHA, Foreign Affairs, 23 June 2025
Noun
  • Just jump on a return train for a few minutes back to Rougemont and a world devoid of the larger international crowds that descend upon swanky Gstaad just a few miles up the road.
    John Oseid, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
  • The Brat star drew one of the weekend’s biggest crowds for her set on the festival’s second-biggest stage; The 1975, Neil Young and Olivia Rodrigo were booked for Pyramid, while Loyle Carner and The Prodigy joined her on the Other.
    Thomas Smith, Billboard, 30 June 2025
Noun
  • In many ways, the game might offer a blueprint for the quarterfinal clash against Paris Saint-Germain.
    Manuel Veth, Forbes.com, 29 June 2025
  • Small groups of far-right counter-protesters attempted to disrupt the parade, but police kept them away and diverted the route of the march to avoid any clashes.
    Anita Komuves, USA Today, 28 June 2025
Noun
  • The madhouse of awards season and all its many, many controversies — not to mention an ongoing parade of natural and man-made disasters — has until now perhaps overshadowed some of the year’s lower-stakes joys.
    Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Mar. 2025
  • But things move fast in the Goodison madhouse.
    Greg O'Keeffe, The Athletic, 9 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • The floor is peppered with spare knee pads and helmets, and a swarm of roller derby players outfitted in protective armor congregate in the center of the warehouse.
    Grace Tucker, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025
  • If a task can be performed in more than one way by equal peers working together—much in the way an ant colony or swarm of bees works—then the system is resistant to censorship and hardware faults and has service continuity due to economic sustainability.
    Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
Noun
  • His 2014 film The Grave tells the story of a man who hears about the discovery of a mass grave and escapes from a nursing home to confront his past on the site of the Battle of the Ebro, the longest and largest battle of the Spanish Civil War.
    Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 7 July 2025
  • The battle will continue as Trump has blasted the mainstream media for years and signed an executive order to cut federal funding for National Public Radio and PBS, said U.S. Rep. John B. Larson of East Hartford.
    Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 7 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Scrum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scrum. Accessed 12 Jul. 2025.

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