melee

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“
A woman involved in the melee is alleged to have punched an officer several times in the head.

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Confused, hand-to-hand fighting in a pitched battle.
  2. noun A violent free-for-all. See Synonyms at brawl.
  3. noun A confused tumultuous mingling, as of a crowd: the rush-hour melee.

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Examples (50)

  • Through all the melee were the water pipes and sewage ducts, schools, prisons and shops, power lines and communication beams. —  OCTOBER, 1953 Vol
  • We have vehicle melee, which is where you steer with the right hand stick and with the left hand stick you can ram other cars. —  Computer And Video Games
  • This is a trap if you can keep this up - melee, grenade, melee, grenade, etc. —  IGN Complete
  • Adding to the melee, the production was an excerpt from a new musical "Frog and Toad," something no one had heard of before. —  The Walton Tribune: News
  • Basak said no one was hurt in the melee, although "there were a few bumps and scrapes." —  Yahoo! News: Top Stories
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This word has been looked up 172 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

disarray ·  butchery ·  carnage ·  firefight ·  clamor ·  scuffle ·  cyclone ·  imprecation ·  scramble ·  snow-storm ·  outcry ·  affray
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French mêlée, from Old French meslee, past participle of mesler, to mix; see meddle.
 

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