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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1
as in tailspin
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
2
as in collapse
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of melt down
Katie Cloyd, Martha Stewart, 17 Jan. 2026
Sidestep a financial wrangle if someone is melting down.
—Tribune Content Agency, Baltimore Sun, 5 Jan. 2026
Arjun Kharpal,sawdah Bhaimiya, CNBC, 11 Feb. 2026
The right-wing meltdown over Bad Bunny‘s Super Bowl Halftime Show performance had Jon Stewart fired up more than usual on Monday’s episode of The Daily Show.
—Abid Rahman, HollywoodReporter, 10 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for melt down
Verb
Keys are typically made of brass or a combination of metals that can be melted down and repurposed into new items.
—Katie Cloyd, Martha Stewart, 17 Jan. 2026
Sidestep a financial wrangle if someone is melting down.
—Tribune Content Agency, Baltimore Sun, 5 Jan. 2026
Noun
Software meltdown Last week, software stocks took a hammering after Anthropic's productivity tool Claude Cowork gained traction.
—Arjun Kharpal,sawdah Bhaimiya, CNBC, 11 Feb. 2026
The right-wing meltdown over Bad Bunny‘s Super Bowl Halftime Show performance had Jon Stewart fired up more than usual on Monday’s episode of The Daily Show.
—Abid Rahman, HollywoodReporter, 10 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for melt down
Recent Examples of Synonyms for melt down
Verb
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After he's dispatched, Isabel and Jay crack his database of dirt, revealing all of the first family's shady dealings.—
Allison DeGrushe,
Entertainment Weekly,
20 Feb. 2026
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Retention of casual viewers is a nut that’s notoriously hard to crack, and NASCAR isn’t alone in trying to convert its hordes of curiosity seekers.—
Anthony Crupi,
Sportico.com,
20 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Another cousin, the son of my industrialist uncle, has given up regattas and the hedonist’s life for a position in his father’s company that is, like all companies in Turkey, faltering under the tremendous burden of an economy in tailspin.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Feb. 2026
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Advertisement But economists warn more structural reform is required to truly arrest Thailand’s economic tailspin.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Fueled by oil and gas exports, Russia defied Western predictions of economic collapse, instead becoming the 9th-biggest economy in the world in 2025, according to the International Monetary Fund, ahead of Canada and Brazil.—
Matthew Chance,
CNN Money,
21 Feb. 2026
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Previous bear markets followed explicit collapses, like the fall of FTX in November 2022.—
Ben Weiss,
Fortune,
20 Feb. 2026
Noun
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This time, Carr’s freak-out was an attempt to stretch the FCC’s equal-time rules to apply to talk shows — both late night and daytime.—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
23 Jan. 2026
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For now, though, Chang is in her bubble up north and witnessing most of the freak-outs remotely and not in person.—
Jessica Radloff,
Glamour,
14 Jan. 2026
Noun
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While the Supreme Court’s majority opinion did not explicitly outline a repayment protocol, dissenting Justice Brett Kavanaugh highlighted the looming administrative disaster.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
20 Feb. 2026
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The latter possibility, however, could give rise to enough disaster and famine to fully destabilize human civilization.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
20 Feb. 2026
Noun
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As for this devastated, miserable, freaked out, walking nervous breakdown of a man?—
Stephen Schaefer,
Boston Herald,
25 Nov. 2025
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The 1970s were Hollywood’s nervous breakdown.—
Remy Blumenfeld,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Algae blooms choke our waterways.—
Yoca Arditi-Rocha,
The Orlando Sentinel,
20 Feb. 2026
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Their inclusion on the recent flight comes as the United States chokes the nation’s oil supplies in a bid for negotiations that could end up in regime change, sparking questions about whether Cuba will take more deportations to ease the political and economic pressure.—
Syra Ortiz Blanes,
Miami Herald,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Companies continued to publicly share their demographics for years after Jackson’s first push, and Jackson followed up with varying success, asking for more data on board and C-suite diversity, gender and race breakdowns of suppliers and contractors, and employee retention.—
Jacqueline Munis,
Fortune,
19 Feb. 2026
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Sheriff Marian Brown declined to explain what is being done to prevent similar breakdowns.—
Dallas Morning News,
Dallas Morning News,
19 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Melt down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/melt%20down. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.
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