battle royal

noun

\ -rȯi-ˈal

How to pronounce battle royal (audio)

\

variants: or battle royale

plural battles royal or battle royals or battles royale or battle royales

Definition of battle royal

1a : a fight participated in by more than two combatants especially : one in which the last fighter in the ring or the last fighter standing is declared the winner

b : a violent struggle

2 : a heated dispute

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Examples of battle royal in a Sentence

the dysfunctional couple next door had another one of their battles royal last night

Recent Examples on the Web

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has now gone free-to-play, and with that change developers Valve and Hidden Path Entertainment have added a new battle royal game mode. — Shannon Liao, The Verge, "Counter-Strike: GO adds new battle royale mode and goes free-to-play," 6 Dec. 2018 But a battle royal has to have other opponents — in this case, my brother, who didn't like the price tag on the new bed, a four-poster totally upholstered, trimmed, and gussied up. — Christine Pittel, House Beautiful, "Ann Pyne on Designing a Happy and Fun Southampton Home," 2 Oct. 2012 The match will be a Royal Rumble format (with wrestlers entering at set intervals of time) rather than a battle royal format (with all the wrestlers beginning in the ring at the same time). — Dan Gartland, SI.com, "Full List of Greatest Royal Rumble Match Participants," 26 Apr. 2018 Yet the powers that be want to pit Teddy against his family in a theatrical battle royal for the audience’s amusement. — Trevor Fraser, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Burlypicks returns to Orlando to crown the best in burlesque," 13 June 2018 In West Virginia and Indiana the Republican Senate primary fights have morphed into multi-candidate battle royals with the combatants focused on one mission: out-Trumping their opponents. — NBC News, "In Red State primaries, candidates out-Trump each other," 6 May 2018 The film, the 19th installment in Marvel's sprawling series, brings together about two dozen caped crusaders for a 150-minute battle royal. — NBC News, "'Avengers: Infinity War' by the numbers," 27 Apr. 2018 Of the 50 participants in the Greatest Royal Rumble, the 6-8, 285-pound Corbin knows how to survive and thrive in a battle royal setting. — Jim Varsallone, miamiherald, "Baron Corbin talks WWE Greatest Royal Rumble, Bruno, Kane, Undertaker, NFL, XFL, more | Miami Herald," 23 Apr. 2018 With all the backstory and drama clearly leading up to an epic battle royal between the two principles, all the details that don’t help build this narrative can be jettisoned. — Corey Seymour, Vogue, "Borg Vs. McEnroe Is The Tennis Movie We’ve Been Waiting For," 13 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'battle royal.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near battle royal

battle position

battleship gray

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The first known use of battle royal was in 1671

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