battle royale en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
- /ˌbætl̩ ɹɔɪˈæl/
Etymology
The video game usage derives from the 2000 film Battle Royale, which has a similar premise to the video game genre.
Meanings
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(alt-of, alternative) Alternative form of battle royal.
alt of battle royal
Who’s going to occupy and fill that? That’s what we’re seeing with this battle royale, whether it’s Megyn Kelly or Ben Shapiro or Mark Levin or Candace Owens or Erika Kirk or whomever.
2026 March 22, David Smith, “‘Extremely ugly’: Maga media figures squabble among themselves over Trump’s Iran war”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 22 Mar 2026:
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A video game genre centered around survival, exploration and scavenging, with last-man-standing gameplay.
Ian Bogost, a game designer, media professor and author of Play Anything, agrees: “There is no question in my mind that the eat-or-be-eaten, winner-take-all mentality of contemporary life is of a piece with the battle-royale genre,” he says.
2018 July 16, Steven Poole, quoting Ian Bogost, “From Fortnite to Love Island: how the ‘fight to the death’ defines our times”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 18 Apr 2023:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| battle-royal | alternative | lexicographic | |
| battle royales | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| battle royal | alternative | lexicographic | |
| battles royale | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| battle-royale | alternative | lexicographic |
Relateds
Translations (8)
ko 배틀 로얄 (video game genre) · ko 배틀 로열 (video game genre) · ja バトルロイヤル (video game genre) · cmn 大逃殺 /大逃杀 (video game genre) · cmn 吃雞 /吃鸡 (video game genre) · ru баттл-рояль (video game genre) · ru королевская битва (video game genre) · ru баттл-роял (video game genre)