Scrum

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /skɹʌm/

Definitions

1. A highly competitive contest for the ball among players in rugby, characterized by a closely organized formation and an intense struggle for possession
2. A dense group of players from opposing rugby teams pushing against each other to gain control of the ball ; a project management technique emphasizing teamwork, iterative progress, and adaptability
3. An intense, crouched confrontation between rugby players vying for the ball's control ; a framework in software development and team projects focusing on regular meetings, roles, and incremental delivery

Etymology: Rugby's most famous huddle began life as a shortened form of a much longer word. "Scrum" is either a back-formation from "scrummage" or an apocopic form of it, meaning the final part of the word was clipped off. "Scrummage" is itself a variant of "scrimmage," a word that once meant a skirmish or confused fight. So the scrum is, in a sense, a scrimmage that lost its ending. The rugby sense of the word is the older one in English, and the project management sense, borrowed from the software world, is a much later extension that keeps the core idea of a tight, collective push. Where the crowd of players literally shoves against itself to win the ball, the agile method uses the same image of a team working in close contact toward a shared goal.

Synonyms: rummage, tackle, scramble, huddle, bunch

Antonyms: order, neatness, organize, arrangement, tidiness