melee

1

or mê·lée

[ mey-ley, mey-ley, mel-ey ]
See synonyms for melee on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a confused hand-to-hand fight or struggle among several people.

  2. confusion; turmoil; jumble: the melee of Christmas shopping.

adjective
  1. Games. of or relating to close-range or hand-to-hand combat, especially in video games and role-playing games, but also in some other tabletop games: I don't enjoy playing melee jobs like Monk or Warrior—I prefer to snipe from afar with an archer or even a mage.You can choose any melee weapon type, but most players prefer daggers since the polearm was nerfed in an expansion last year.

Origin of melee

1
First recorded in 1640–50; from French mêlée “quarrel, mixture”; see origin at medley

Words Nearby melee

Other definitions for melee (2 of 2)

melee2
[ mey-ley, mey-ley ]

noun
  1. a group of diamonds, each weighing less than 0.25 carat.

Origin of melee

2
First recorded in 1910–15; origin uncertain

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use melee in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for melee

melee

mle

/ (ˈmɛleɪ) /


noun
  1. a noisy riotous fight or brawl

Origin of melee

1
C17: from French mêlée. See medley

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012