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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
Rick Jervis, USA Today, 14 Sep. 2025
More than a dozen people faced criminal charges stemming from a melee after a rally in Soliman’s support; demonstrators and police blame each other for the violence July 17.
—Hannah Allam, ProPublica, 10 Sep. 2025
Notably, Miami midfielder Sergio Busquets avoided punishment after appearing to strike Vargas on the chin during the post-match melee.
—Ben Church, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2025
Director Fujii Michihito, working alongside Okada, has crafted what promises to be a visual spectacle, particularly evident in the large-scale melee sequence at Tenryuji Temple.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 7 Sep. 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 16 Sep. 2025.
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melee
noun
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