different between melee vs imbroglio

English

Alternative forms

• mêlée
• melée

Etymology

Borrowed from French mêlée, from Old French meslee, feminine past participle of mesler (“to mix”), derived from Latin misce? (“mix”). Doublet of medley.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?m??le?/, /?m?.li/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?me??le?/, /me??le?/, /?m??le?/, /m??le?/
• Rhymes: -?le?, -?li

Noun

melee (countable and uncountable, plural melees)

1. A battle fought at close range; hand-to-hand combat; brawling.
2. A loud, confused or tumultuous fight, argument or scrap.
3. Any confused, disorganised, disordered or chaotic situation.
4. Lively contention or debate, skirmish.
5. (military, historical) 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.
6. Small cut and polished gemstones sold in lots.

Translations

Verb

melee (third-person singular simple present melees, present participle meleeing, simple past and past participle meleed)

1. (video games, slang) 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.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian imbroglio (“tangle, entanglement, muddle”) (im-, alternative form of in- (“prefix forming verbs denoting derivation”) + broglio (“confusion; intrigue, fraud, rigging, stuffing”); see also imbrogliare (“to tangle”)), cognate with and probably from an earlier form of French embrouiller (“to embroil, muddle”) (em- (“em-”), a form of en- (“en-, prefix meaning ‘caused’”) + brouiller (“to confuse, mix up”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?b???lj??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?b?o?ljo?/
• Rhymes: -??lj??
• Hyphenation: im?bro?glio

Noun

imbroglio (plural imbroglios or imbrogli)

1. A complicated situation; an entanglement.
   • 2013, Frances Whiting, chapter 19, in Walking on Trampolines, Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Macmillan Australia, ?ISBN; trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Gallery Books, February 2015, ?ISBN page 207:

     I could have phoned you with all this, Tallulah, but knowing you as I have over the years, when you and I have both been a party to some of Duncan's little imbroglios, I thought I should talk to you in person.

Synonyms

• snarl (noun)

Related terms

Translations

French

Etymology

From Italian imbroglio (“tangle”), from imbrogliare (“to tangle”), cognate with and probably from an earlier form of French embrouiller (“muddle, embroil”), from em- (“en-”) + brouiller. Doublet of embrouille.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.b??.ljo/

Noun

imbroglio m (plural imbroglios)

1. a complicated situation; an entanglement

Further reading

• “imbroglio” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

From imbrogliare (“to tangle”), cognate with and probably from an earlier form of French embrouiller (“muddle, embroil”), from em- (“en-”) + brouiller.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /im?br??.?o/
• Hyphenation: im?bro?glio

Noun

imbroglio m (plural imbrogli)

1. tangle, entanglement, muddle, scrape

   Synonyms: impiccio, intrico, pasticcio

2. cheat, swindle, trick, diddle, fraud

   Synonyms: frode, inganno, truffa

Related terms

Verb

imbroglio

1. first-person singular present indicative of imbrogliare