Word.ws English Dictionary

battle royale

/ˌbætl̩ ɹɔɪˈæl/

battle royale noun: a video game genre centered around survival, exploration and scavenging, with last-man-standing gameplay. Also the alternative form of battle royal.

Noun

battle royale (plural battles royale or battle royales)

  1. 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

Also used as

battle royale is also the alternative form of battle royal.

Forms of battle royale

pluralbattles royale
pluralbattle royales
alternative formbattle-royal
alternative formbattle-royale
alternative formbattle royal

Origin of battle royale

The video game usage derives from the 2000 film Battle Royale, which has a similar premise to the video game genre.

Questions about battle royale

What does battle royale mean?
Battle royale means a video game genre centered around survival, exploration and scavenging, with last-man-standing gameplay.
What part of speech is battle royale?
Battle royale is a noun.
How do you pronounce battle royale?
Battle royale is pronounced /ˌbætl̩ ɹɔɪˈæl/.
What is the plural of battle royale?
The plural of battle royale is battles royale.

Words near battle royale in the dictionary

  1. battle rifles
  2. Battle River
  3. battle rope
  4. battle ropes
  5. battle royal
  6. battle royale
  7. battle royales
  8. battle royals
  9. battle ship
  10. battle ships
  11. battle station

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: battle royale (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-battle royale.wav.

Cite this entry: “battle royale.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/battle_royale. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.