scrimmage
Americannoun
-
scrimmages
plural
-
a rough or vigorous struggle.
-
Football.
-
the action that takes place between the teams from the moment the ball is snapped until it is declared dead.
-
a practice session or informal game, as that played between two units of the same team.
-
verb (used with or without object)
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scrimmages,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scrimmaged,
past participle, past
-
scrimmaging
present participle
noun
-
a rough or disorderly struggle
-
American football the clash of opposing linemen at every down
verb
-
(intr) to engage in a scrimmage
-
(tr) to put (the ball) into a scrimmage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
scrimmagesimple
-
scrimmagessimple
-
have scrimmagedperfect
-
has scrimmagedperfect
-
am scrimmagingprogressive
-
are scrimmagingprogressive
-
is scrimmagingprogressive
-
have been scrimmagingperfect progressive
-
has been scrimmagingperfect progressive
Past
-
scrimmagedsimple
-
had scrimmagedperfect
-
was scrimmagingprogressive
-
were scrimmagingprogressive
-
had been scrimmagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scrimmage
1425–75; late Middle English, variant of scrimish, metathetic form of skirmish
Explanation
A scrimmage is a practice — not an official game — in American football, hockey, and in other team sports. You might think of football when you hear the word scrimmage, because the ball is placed on the "line of scrimmage" at the start of a play. A scrimmage is also a practice between two squads. You can also use scrimmage as a verb for other types of practicing. A basketball player might scrimmage by shooting one hundred free throws, for example. Originally, scrimmage was a variation on the word skirmish, and meant "a confused struggle between players."
Vocabulary lists containing scrimmage
Tangerine
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American Football, 3rd Quarter
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Crash
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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.
See Examples For:
Their first offensive play from scrimmage was a botched snap landing quarterback Koa Malau’ulu on the three-yard line.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Johnson, a three-time Pro Bowl selection who holds the NFL record for most yards from scrimmage in a single season, on Tuesday revealed on “Good Morning America” that he has been diagnosed with ALS.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
The Super Bowl marked Walker's third straight playoff game with 100-plus scrimmage yards, making him the only player in Seahawks history to accomplish that feat.
From Barron's ● Feb. 9, 2026
He wants his quarterbacks to call their own play at the line of scrimmage based on how the defense is lined up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026
Winston, at normal times the kind of person who gravitates to the outer edge of any kind of scrimmage, shoved, butted, squirmed his way forward into the heart of the crowd.
From "1984" by George Orwell
No players can compete in a game without 14 days of practices, with scrimmages counting as a practice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
He and a couple acquaintances from Harvard organized scrimmages for other local college players at a complex outside of Worcester, Mass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
Then came the Americans, who often acted as if they would have been content to slog through meaningless scrimmages in half-empty spring-training stadiums.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
Other teams will hold scrimmages on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2024
We spent another hour practicing some plays, putting them into action in little scrimmages, and then Coach sent us to the weight room in pairs.
From "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds
While his peers scrimmaged against players in their own grade, the young Kon Knueppel spent his evenings taking a crash course in basketball nitty-gritty from guys two or three times his age.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
While teammates scrimmaged, she studied sets from the sidelines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2025
Cavaliers guard Ricky Rubio has scrimmaged with the team’s G-League affiliate as he nears his return after season-ending knee surgery.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 19, 2022
Carroll and Gonzaga scrimmaged the past two seasons, but this fall both teams had an open slot to begin the year.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 26, 2022
After the last set of drills, they scrimmaged full-court.
From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty
Tucker will wrap up spring practice Saturday afternoon at Spartan Stadium, where fans will watch a 15-period practice that will include first-string offensive players scrimmaging against the team’s top defense.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 14, 2023
That combination of continuity and health should make this “different than most training camps,” Lue said, in that practices can advance to scrimmaging earlier than usual.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2022
“When we get into competitive drills or scrimmaging, it can get intense,” Caldwell said.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 14, 2022
While rehabbing from surgery for that injury, he tore his right Achilles tendon scrimmaging the day before training camp began.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 8, 2022
At an early practice, as the boys were scrimmaging, a gaggle of geese took flight from a pond on the other side of the woods.
From "Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference" by Warren St. John
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.
