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melee

1 American  
[mey-ley, mey-ley] / ˈmeɪ leɪ, meɪˈleɪ /

noun

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

melee 2 American  
[mey-ley, mey-ley, mel-ey] / ˈmeɪ leɪ, meɪˈleɪ, ˈmɛl eɪ /
Or mêlée

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 British  
/ ˈmɛleɪ /

noun

  1. a noisy riotous fight or brawl

"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

Etymology

Origin of melee1

First recorded in 1910–15; origin uncertain

Origin of melee1

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa have been charged with misconduct by the Football Association following a melee at the conclusion of their FA Cup match on Saturday.

From BBC

Police failed to bring the situation under control for hours — a melee former Chancellor Gene Block called a “dark chapter” in the university’s history.

From Los Angeles Times

Those teams have fallen off in recent years and the expansion of the conference has created a melee of parity.

From The Wall Street Journal

Accompanying Hedda throughout is a choir of scooping notes, which by the film’s chaotic finale crescendo into a slightly horrific melee of wild vocals.

From Los Angeles Times

In the melee, the little bird fell off Lady Constance’s hat and disappeared somewhere in the nursery.

From Literature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.