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Melee Has French Roots
English has no shortage of words for confused and noisy fights, some (fray, brawl, scrap) more common than others (donnybrook, fracas). Melee tends to be encountered more often in written rather than spoken English, but it is far from obscure, and has seen increasing use especially in the context of video games featuring some form of hand-to-hand combat. Such games allow players to mix it up with all manner of rivals and baddies from the comfort and safety of their home, with mix being an especially apt word alongside melee: the latter comes from the French word mêlée, which in turn comes from the Old French verb mesler, meaning "to mix."
Examples of melee in a Sentence
Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 9 Aug. 2025
Oak Lawn’s police department also was formed after an unsavory incident, after several drunken Chicago police officers crashed a community dance in 1913 resulting in a melee involving around 75 residents.
—Janice Neumann, Chicago Tribune, 9 July 2025
That colleague who triggered the melee was later promoted to sergeant.
—Kristine Phillips, IndyStar, 2 July 2025
Moments later, Dave Roberts and Mike Shildt were face-to-face on the field, engaged in a shouting match that caused both benches to empty in a heated melee behind home plate.
—Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for melee
Cite this Entry
“Melee.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/melee. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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melee
noun
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