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medley

[ med-lee ]
/ ˈmɛd li /
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noun, plural med·leys.
a mixture, especially of heterogeneous elements; hodgepodge; jumble.
a piece of music combining tunes or passages from various sources: a medley of hit songs from Broadway shows.
adjective
Archaic. mixed; mingled.
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Origin of medley

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English noun and adjective medle(e), medlei(e), maedlai(e) “battle, war, quarrel; mixture, balanced mixture,” from Anglo-French, Old French medlee, mellee, noun and adjective use of feminine of past participle of medler “to mix, fight”; see origin at meddle
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use medley in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for medley

medley
/ (ˈmɛdlÉȘ) /

noun
a mixture of various types or elements
a musical composition consisting of various tunes arranged as a continuous whole
Also called: medley relay
  1. swimming a race in which a different stroke is used for each length
  2. athletics a relay race in which each leg has a different distance
an archaic word for melee
adjective
of, being, or relating to a mixture or variety

Word Origin for medley

C14: from Old French medlee, from medler to mix, quarrel
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
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