1
as in throng
a great number of persons or creatures massed together
I had to fight my way through the scrum of holiday shoppers at the mall
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in skirmish
a physical dispute between opposing individuals or groups
when the server spilled a drink on a customer, they got into a bit of a scrum before being separated
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in bedlam
British
a place of uproar or confusion
London's tube is quite a scrum during rush hour
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of scrum
Fellow New Jersey Democrat Rep. LaMonica McIver, acting out at the same scrum, was also arrested and charged with assaulting and impeding federal agents.
—
Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 23 June 2025
Fiery and defensive throughout a scrum that lasted over 90 minutes, Brian Cashman’s frustration reached a high point at the General Managers Meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona on Nov. 7, 2023 when a reporter asked him about the Yankees’ difficulties developing homegrown hitters.
—Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 10 July 2025
By the time he was joined by his longtime friend and fellow Celine ambassador Park Bo-gum and singer Suzy Bae, a veritable scrum had formed around the front row guests.
—Joelle Diderich, Footwear News, 6 July 2025
The officer then deployed pepper spray into the scrum, prompting protesters to scatter.
—Maryam Ahmed, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for scrum
Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 23 June 2025
Fiery and defensive throughout a scrum that lasted over 90 minutes, Brian Cashman’s frustration reached a high point at the General Managers Meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona on Nov. 7, 2023 when a reporter asked him about the Yankees’ difficulties developing homegrown hitters.
—Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 10 July 2025
By the time he was joined by his longtime friend and fellow Celine ambassador Park Bo-gum and singer Suzy Bae, a veritable scrum had formed around the front row guests.
—Joelle Diderich, Footwear News, 6 July 2025
The officer then deployed pepper spray into the scrum, prompting protesters to scatter.
—Maryam Ahmed, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for scrum
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scrum
Noun
-
To reduce the throng of festival goers that are often stuck on long lines upon arriving, camping entry will also now begin on Wednesday instead of the usual Thursday.—
Daniel Kreps,
Rolling Stone,
17 July 2025
-
Today, the throngs of business passengers flying between places like Albany and Islip in the early ‘80s are gone.—
Michael Boyd,
Forbes.com,
17 July 2025
Noun
-
The skirmish left the mother of Jones' child with a black eye.—
Chris Ramirez,
jsonline.com,
18 July 2025
-
The skirmish has thrust into the public eye a falling-out between two political heavyweights once seen as close allies.—
Douglas Hanks,
Miami Herald,
16 July 2025
Noun
-
So many of us have spent these last few months running and thither from bad news to more bad news, from chaos to bedlam, from disbelief to shock.—
Donna Vickroy,
Chicago Tribune,
19 June 2025
-
His second was an absolute pearl of a goal, setting off complete bedlam at Monterrey’s iconic Estadio BBVA, known as ‘The Steel Giant’.—
Felipe Cardenas,
New York Times,
7 June 2025
Noun
-
For the grand finale, singer, songwriter and actor Anthony Hamilton turned the dial down a few notches with a seemingly endless medley of southern R&B fitting for the festival's sophisticated, older crowd.—
Haadiza Ogwude,
The Enquirer,
27 July 2025
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The tournament-record crowd for a group match not involving the host country — 22,596 watching the Netherlands vs Switzerland at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane in 2022 — has been bettered on six occasions, with the 34,165 at that Germany-Denmark game the largest.—
Cerys Jones,
New York Times,
26 July 2025
Noun
-
Navarro and Griffin have long had tension on the air, including past eye-rolling and clashes.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
25 July 2025
-
The Thai Health Ministry said 15 civilians and one soldier had been killed and 46 civilians and 15 soldiers wounded in the clashes since Thursday.—
Shane Croucher
John Feng,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 July 2025
Noun
-
The madhouse of awards season and all its many, many controversies — not to mention an ongoing parade of natural and man-made disasters — has until now perhaps overshadowed some of the year’s lower-stakes joys.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2025
-
But things move fast in the Goodison madhouse.—
Greg O'Keeffe,
The Athletic,
9 Jan. 2025
Noun
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This discovery is a big deal – until now, efforts to control outbreaks, or swarms, of these animals have been laborious and largely futile, requiring individual animals to be sited and removed.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
20 July 2025
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Fears of India and Pakistan being a mistake away from nuclear war rose as the two countries hit each other’s military infrastructure with airstrikes and swarms of drones.—
Sam Dalrymple,
Time,
14 July 2025
Noun
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The conservative-majority court has already knocked out a significant part of the law, but the new legal fronts could reshape decades-long precedent of legal battles over political power.—
Kristina Karisch,
The Hill,
31 July 2025
-
The conservancy's location is where multiple lion pride territories converge, creating opportunities to witness territorial battles and hunting behavior.—
Jenn Rice,
Travel + Leisure,
31 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scrum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scrum. Accessed 3 Aug. 2025.
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