scrum

noun

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\ ˈskrəm

Definition of scrum

1a or scrummage \ ˈskrə-mij

\ : a rugby play in which the forwards of each side come together in a tight formation and struggle to gain possession of the ball using their feet when it is tossed in among them also : the arrangement of players in a scrum

b : a usually brief and disorderly struggle or fight : scrape, scuffle

2a British : madhouse sense 2

b : a usually tightly packed or disorderly crowd : throng

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Examples of scrum in a Sentence

I had to fight my way through the scrum of holiday shoppers at the mall. when the server spilled a drink on a customer, they got into a bit of a scrum before being separated

Recent Examples on the Web Ondrej Pavel, its Czech handyman fourth-liner, parked himself amid a scrum in front and deflected in defenseman Jack McNeely’s slapper from the right point to make it 3-1 after 1:57 of the third. — John Powers, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Apr. 2022 The biggest scrum was around the multi-coloured drinks bar, cluttered with trinkets, icons and a hundred different brands of rum. — Johnny O'reilly, Rolling Stone, 22 Mar. 2022 In a scrum with reporters on Thursday, the Mississippi Democrat said the committee planned to hold eight hearings in June. — Grace Segers, The New Republic, 29 Apr. 2022 Mature scrum teams, for example, often see this phenomenon. — Andrew Deutscher, Forbes, 18 Apr. 2022 Stengel was at Yankee Stadium, in the media scrum on the field before Game 2, evangelizing the glories of the Amazing Mets. — New York Times, 23 Mar. 2022 His story is familiar to anyone who’s joined the home-buying scrum in Southern California lately. — Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2022 From a player perspective, on his The Long Shot podcast Heat guard Duncan Robinson offered the inside view on the post-mortem of the Heat-Nuggets scrum. — Ira Winderman, sun-sentinel.com, 13 Nov. 2021 Charles followed Perkins through the scrum to the locker-room door, where two burly security guards intervened. — al, 2 Nov. 2021 See More

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