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Melee Has French Roots
English has no shortage of words for confused and noisy fights, some (fray, brawl, scrap) more common than others (donnybrook, fracas). Melee tends to be encountered more often in written rather than spoken English, but it is far from obscure, and has seen increasing use especially in the context of video games featuring some form of hand-to-hand combat. Such games allow players to mix it up with all manner of rivals and baddies from the comfort and safety of their home, with mix being an especially apt word alongside melee: the latter comes from the French word mêlée, which in turn comes from the Old French verb mesler, meaning "to mix."
Examples of melee in a Sentence
Michael Luo, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2025
Each crew member has different stats and proficiencies for gunnery, ship repair, melee attack, and melee defense.
—PCMAG, 20 Feb. 2025
The melee that followed would wind through two courts, drag on for eight years and cost the building a small fortune in legal fees.
—David Segal, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2025
The pardons for those who attacked the U.S. Capitol included those who didn’t commit violence as well as those who carried firearms, Tasers, and knives into the melee, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
—Patrik Jonsson, The Christian Science Monitor, 24 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for melee
Cite this Entry
“Melee.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/melee. Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.
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melee
noun
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