melee means of a weapon: used in close-range combat, e.g. a sword. Compare with ranged. It carries an Arena rating of 1646, earned across 8 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, melee ranks #119 of 17,116 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,071 of 17,113 for Most Elegant Words, #3,025 of 17,115 for Most Vivid Words, #4,360 of 17,130 for Most Ingenious Words.
melee is pronounced /ˈmɛˌleɪ/.
Why “melee” is a great word
A confused, hand-to-hand fight among a group of people. From French mêlée, from Old French meslee (feminine past participle of mesler, 'to mix'), derived from Latin misceō ('to mix'). Doublet of medley. First recorded in English use circa 1640. Unlike a skirmish, which implies a brief, tactical engagement, or a duel, a formal contest of two, a melee is the dissolution of all order—the tangle of grasping hands in a tavern brawl, the press of armored bodies in a knightly tourney, the sudden eruption in a crowded street where no one remembers who struck first. It is combat stripped of protocol, where the edge of a knife, the heat of breath, and the stink of sweat blur into a single, seething truth: that violence, at its core, is not strategy but mixture.
Etymology
Borrowed from French mêlée, from Old French meslee, feminine past participle of mesler (“to mix”), derived from Latin misceō (“mix”). Doublet of medley.
adj
- Of a weapon: used in close-range combat, e.g. a sword. Compare with ranged.e.g.“A melee weapon is used to attack a target within 5 feet of you, whereas a ranged weapon is used to attack a target at a distance.”
- Of a character, using melee weapons.
noun
- A battle fought at close range, (especially) one not involving ranged weapons; hand-to-hand combat; brawling.e.g.“Honestly, a lot of what this episode did right had more to do with the scenes that surrounded the enormous melee than those hyper-edited clashes of swords.”
- A loud, confused or tumultuous fight, argument or scrap.
- Any confused, disorganised, disordered or chaotic situation.
- Lively contention or debate, skirmish.
- A cavalry exercise in which two groups of riders try to cut paper plumes off the helmets of their opponents, the contest continuing until no member of one group retains his plume.
- Small cut and polished gemstones sold in lots.
- The video game Super Smash Bros. Melee.
verb
- To physically hit in close quarters, as opposed to shooting, blowing up, or other ranged means of damage. Often refers to the usage of a hand-to-hand weapon.
Words closest in meaning
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