as in brawls
a rough and often noisy fight usually involving several people
a verbal disagreement at the football game soon turned into a general melee involving scores of spectators
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Recent Examples of melees
College basketball games recently have turned into full-contact melees after hard fouls on the court.
—
Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 23 Feb. 2026
Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 23 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for melees
Noun
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Other brewhouse brawls happen at Magnanimous Brewing in Tampa (Havoc And Haze) and Walking Tree Brewery in Vero Beach (Rooted In Chaos), often drawing 300 to 500 visitors, CCW co-owner Dan Ackerman says.—
Phillip Valys,
Sun Sentinel,
11 Apr. 2026
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While on-ice brawls are nothing new in professional ice hockey, flying fisticuffs have a history in the police and fireman face off from years past.—
Skyler Caruso,
PEOPLE,
31 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Three newer ones — the USS Canberra, USS Santa Barbara and USS Tulsa — are equipped with advanced mine countermeasure, or MCM, packages that were intended to be useful in areas such as the Persian Gulf, the site of many wars involving clashes in the littoral zone, or shallow coastal areas.—
Gary Robbins,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
12 Apr. 2026
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What should be a straightforward day of music grinds to a halt as the artists struggle to deal with personality clashes, an ambitious trumpeter named Levee (Boseman), and the band's mercurial frontwoman.—
James Mercadante,
Entertainment Weekly,
12 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Melees.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/melees. Accessed 19 Apr. 2026.
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