especially: a hand-to-hand fight among several people
They were seriously injured in the melee.
Did you know?
Melee Has French Roots
Fray, donnybrook, brawl, fracas: there are many English words for confused and noisy fights, and in the 17th century melee was thrown into the mix. It comes from the French mêlée, which in turn comes from the Old French meslee, meaning "mixture." Meslee comes from the Old French verb mesler, or medler, which means "to mix." This verb is also the source of medley ("a mixture or hodgepodge") and meddle ("to mix oneself in others' affairs" or "to interfere").
a verbal disagreement at the football game soon turned into a general melee involving scores of spectators
Recent Examples on the WebOne of them was the queen herself, who suffered a bite to the hand that required three stitches while breaking up an eight-corgi melee at Windsor Castle in 1991. Maura Judkis, Washington Post, 16 Sep. 2022 Front-runners following the melee, including then-points leader Pato O’Ward, had to make three green-flag pitstops, compared to two for the eventual podium, and Palou and company worked their way back to the front by the race’s end. Nathan Brown, The Indianapolis Star, 4 Sep. 2022 The actors propel themselves like live ammunition through the melee, with Benssalah and newcomer Slimane making particularly forceful impressions. David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Sep. 2022 Players can also opt to take a stealthy approach and melee enemies from behind, with the aim of thinning the numbers in a particular area, as alerting everyone can lead to Joel being overwhelmed with attacks and subsequently getting killed. George Yang, Variety, 31 Aug. 2022 Callaghan said the melee at the festival was corroborated by witness testimony and that was legal evidence alone to support the Board of License Commissioners’ suspension of their licenses on Aug. 22. Carlos R. Muñoz, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Aug. 2022 The film was originally set to premiere in 2018, but was delayed after Depp's legal melee with both ex-wife Amber Heard and a UK tabloid. Staff And Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 12 July 2022 Referees huddled at midfield to sort out the melee. Richard Obert, The Arizona Republic, 19 Aug. 2022 Critically wounding an enemy or breaking their shield increases melee range and damage. Paul Tassi, Forbes, 18 Aug. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
French mêlée, from Old French meslee, from mesler to mix — more at meddle