battle royal

noun \ -rȯi-ˈal \

variants: or battle royale

Updated on: 18 Apr 2018

Definition of battle royal

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

1 a : 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

Examples of battle royal in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples of battle royal from the Web

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
On the other side of the impending battle royal is Hathaway.

— caroline framke, Vox, "The glam new Ocean’s 8 trailer has Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett getting down to business," 12 Apr. 2018
Raw tag team titles The Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro) vs. Braun Strowman and TBA Strowman won a tag team battle royal by himself to earn the opportunity.

— gene guillot, NOLA.com, "Breaking down the matches for WrestleMania 34," 8 Apr. 2018
Tonight's Royal Rumble is wide open with about a dozen possible ways the 30-man over the top battle royal could play out.

— troy l. smith, cleveland.com, "If Roman Reigns wins the WWE Royal Rumble, Fans may actually riot," 28 Jan. 2018
Wegmans’ service marks the beginning of a battle royal among grocers.

— suzette parmley, Philly.com, "Philly grocery chains raise their delivery game to compete with Amazon's Whole Foods," 9 Feb. 2018
The Koch network is likely to spend heavily to support the voucher law, setting up a battle royal with the labor movement.

— james hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Koch network laying groundwork to fundamentally transform America’s education system," 30 Jan. 2018
During Sunday night's Royal Rumble, the men's 30-man over the top battle royal came earlier than expected.

— troy l. smith, cleveland.com, "Shinsuke Nakamura wins Royal Rumble, heads to WrestleMania 34," 28 Jan. 2018
This Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center, 30 superstars will compete in the WWE’s unique twist on the battle royal, attempting to hurl their opponents out of the ring and win themselves a shot at the company’s top title (or one of them, anyway).

— shaun brady, Philly.com, "Royal Rumble: Everything you need to know about the WWE's main event and more," 24 Jan. 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.