melees

noun

plural of melee
as in brawls
a rough and often noisy fight usually involving several people a verbal disagreement at the football game soon turned into a general melee involving scores of spectators

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of melees Infantry has been around since officers figured out how to get soldiers organized instead of fighting in melees like football hooligans on a Saturday night after 12 pints of lager. — New Atlas, 13 Sep. 2026 There was a bunch of melees on the ice today. — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 22 Apr. 2026 College basketball games recently have turned into full-contact melees after hard fouls on the court. — Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 23 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for melees
  1. brawls
  2. clashes
Noun
  • The Rek Humanoid Robot Fighting League is a fighting organization that hosts humanoid robot versus robot brawls in an undersized MMA cage.
    — Jon Martindale, PC Magazine, 5 Oct. 2026
  • These days, oversight hearings have degenerated into partisan brawls.
    — David Wippman, Washington Post, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of brawls
Noun
  • The student rallies, now stretching into their third week after violent clashes with police, mass school closures and thousands of arrests, are expected to resume on Thursday.
    — Chloe Taylor, CNBC, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms tried to make President Donald Trump the focus of one of the debate’s sharpest clashes.
    — AJC.com, AJC.com, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of clashes

Browse Nearby Words

melee
melees
meliorate
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Cite this Entry

“Melees.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/melees. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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