molten

adjective

mol·​ten ˈmōl-tᵊn 

1

: fused or liquefied by heat : melted

molten lava

2

: having warmth or brilliance : glowing

the molten sunlight of warm skies

—T. B. Costain

3

obsolete : made by melting and casting

Examples of molten in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But a lot of lunar crystals seem to have formed from a second reservoir of molten rock 4.35 billion years ago. —Robin George Andrews, Quanta Magazine, 25 Apr. 2025

As the molten rock cools into a solid, the pressure slowly forces the plates that hold North America and Europe farther apart. —Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 23 Apr. 2025

What's even more astonishing: with every blistering 30-hour orbit — which heats the planet to close to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,600 degrees Celsius) — the planet sheds as much mass of molten rock as an entire Mount Everest. —Victoria Corless, Space.com, 22 Apr. 2025

At the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge off the Norwegian coast, molten rock rises from deep within the Earth between spreading tectonic plates. —Christian Elliott, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from past participle of melten to melt

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Kids Definition

molten

adjective

mol·​ten ˈmōlt-ᵊn 

: melted especially by very great heat