melt down 1 of 2

verb

Definition of melt downnext
as in to crack
to yield to mental or emotional stress rather than melt down, the team strengthened their resolve and ended up winning the game

Synonyms & Similar Words

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meltdown

2 of 2

noun

1
as in tailspin

Related Words

Dissimilar Words
2
as in collapse

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Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of melt down
Verb
Due to this, silver was often cut into smaller pieces or melted down. — Amarachi Orie, CNN Money, 4 Sep. 2026 Gossip blogger Perez Hilton was reportedly treated for a drug overdose after melting down during a livestream that caused concerns of self-harm. — Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 14 Aug. 2026
Noun
The race toward nuclear energy faced a major setback in 1979, with the meltdown at Three Mile Island; dozens of projects were canned in the aftermath. — Chang Che, New Yorker, 24 Sep. 2026 After a Week 1 meltdown to the New York Giants on the road, the urgency to get a win on the board ramps up with another NFC East opponent on the slate. — Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 18 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for melt down
Recent Examples of Synonyms for melt down
  1. crack
  2. tailspin
  3. collapse
  4. choke
  5. freak-out
  6. disaster
  7. break down
  8. nervous breakdown
Verb
  • Remember earlier this summer when Sophie Cunningham got her teeth cracked by an elbow and no foul was called?
    — Zach Dean OutKick, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • In the close quarters of the boat, the family’s fragile equilibrium, long organised around his volatility, begins to crack.
    — Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of crack
Noun
  • The biggest takeaway from the season was that too much change in such a short amount of time is a good way to throw a team into a tailspin.
    — Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 27 Sep. 2026
  • With the Hollywood studio system headed for a tailspin, could now be the time for midnight movies to come out of the dark and into the marquee lights?
    — Glenn Garner, Deadline, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of tailspin
Noun
  • Two weeks into fighting, the unforgiving mountainous terrain, heavy Saudi and government air power, and a reenergized anti-Houthi coalition have kept the Houthi advance in check, preventing a collapse on the level of that in mid-September.
    — Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 4 Oct. 2026
  • While the exact time of the collapse is unknown, the Volcanoes National Park team said on social media Thursday that the arch was still standing on Wednesday, September 23, when the park was temporarily closed during Tropical Storm Nolo.
    — Charlotte Reck, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of collapse
Verb
  • Wartime attacks on cargo vessels in the Black Sea have choked that supply route.
    — HANNA ARHIROVA, Arkansas Online, 26 Sep. 2026
  • However, wartime attacks on cargo vessels in the Black Sea have choked that supply route, raising fears of shortages.
    — Hanna Arhirova, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of choke
Noun
  • The Derby’s question is quite often decided by whichever colt or filly has the racing focus and the strength not to succumb to his or her ambient freak-out.
    — Guy Martin, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
  • Even so, the nation’s collective freak-out should serve as a wake-up call to both the food industry and regulators.
    — Nicholas Florko, The Atlantic, 17 July 2026
Definition of freak-out
Noun
  • Although major questions remained unanswered on Thursday about the attacker and his motive, the story of ordinary passengers saving the FlyDubai flight from disaster has quickly become the stuff of legend.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Second were unarmed passengers who subdued the armed attacker before one pulled back on the yoke to level the aircraft, drawing on knowledge from an air-disaster documentary.
    — Billy Stockwell, CNN Money, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of disaster
Verb
  • The only way to achieve this is to break down the walls and abandon top-down military standardization.
    — Dan Driscoll, Foreign Affairs, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Vinegar Acidic solutions like vinegar are a fan favorite of many eco-friendly cleaners, due to their innate ability to break down and lift stains from hard water, rust, and soap scum.
    — Kate Van Pelt, The Spruce, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of break down
Noun
  • Gloria Steinem attributed her mother's nervous breakdown before she was born, and her treatment in mental institutions and the workforce thereafter, as key to her interest in social injustices.
    — Taijuan Moorman, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2026
  • In 1944 her parents divorced, and 10-year-old Gloria was left to take care of her mother, a once-promising journalist who struggled to combine her work with running a household and who eventually suffered a nervous breakdown.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of nervous breakdown

Browse Nearby Words

melt (away)
melt down
meltdown
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Cite this Entry

“Melt down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/melt%20down. Accessed 5 Oct. 2026.

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