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View synonyms for melee

melee

1
or mê·lée

[ mey-ley, mey-ley, mel-ey ]

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: You can choose any melee weapon type, but most players prefer daggers since the polearm was nerfed in an expansion last year.

    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.

melee

2

[ mey-ley, mey-ley ]

noun

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

melee

/ ˈmɛleɪ /

noun

  1. a noisy riotous fight or brawl


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Word History and Origins

Origin of melee1

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

Origin of melee2

First recorded in 1910–15; origin uncertain

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Word History and Origins

Origin of melee1

C17: from French mêlée. See medley

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Example Sentences

His crew either perished in the melee or were hanged in New Orleans.

Somehow, Capitol food service operations still appeared to be up and running through the melee.

The event ended, deplorably, in a riotous melee that police had to break up.

Ten members of the group were eventually charged following the violent melee, with two ultimately sentenced to serve four-year terms in prison in October 2019.

From Vox

Although a dozen or more coalitions may enter the melee, only one can emerge victorious.

In fact, Clark fell back first from her blows, losing his cap, tie, and badge in the melee.

It was Orlando vs. Justin in an Ibiza melee with two highly unlikely opposing parties.

They made one last charge for the airport, and when the riot police blocked them again a melee ensued.

The Kurds entered a buffer zone on the Turkish border and in the melee at least four protestor were wounded.

But Silva, hapless Silva, got his merely for tangling with the Colombian goalkeeper in a clumsy melee of limbs.

No one of his people had seen the melee from which he had emerged so ingloriously, yet humiliation was terrible.

Three or four of George's companions were engaged in the melee, and some hard blows were given back and forth.

It was going to be a fine barrage, with guns going off in all directions, because it is hard to keep your head in a melee.

Bill was going to shoot right into the melee, but Haught knocked the rifle up, and forbid him to use it.

In the melee a Boer horse (a plump one) was triumphantly captured and preserved for dissection.

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