free-for-all

Definitions

1. 1

   Chaos

   Chaos; a chaotic situation lacking rules or control.

   • When the fire alarm went off, it was a free-for-all.
   • Competition was the order of the day: the industrial warfare of the sixties was a free-for-all.
   • […] this was a consequence of building Tubes by means of a competitive free-for-all. Each company wanted to expand its territory at the expense of the others.
2. 2

   A deathmatch, sometimes specifically one in which every player is pitted against all the…

   A deathmatch, sometimes specifically one in which every player is pitted against all the others.

3. 3

   Of a fight, competition, etc., characterized by the absence or scarcity of formal rules…

   Of a fight, competition, etc., characterized by the absence or scarcity of formal rules or limitations.

   • Men, as well as women, were springing in to the rope and pulling. No longer was it team against team, but all Oakland against all San Francisco, festooned with a free-for-all fight.
   • Then Lucy told him about the great passion of her father—about the long, time-honored custom of free-for-all races, and the great races that had been run in the past; […]
   • But, he added, “Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences!”

The neighborhood

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