melting down

present participle of melt down
as in losing it
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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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 melting down This one appears quick opaque and viscous, but actually does a nice job at melting down onto the skin and absorbing quickly. — Lucy Partington, Glamour, 7 Oct. 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 If energy stocks are one way to profit from powering the boom, another lies in the hardware that keeps those AI factories from melting down. — Camila Grigera Naón, Fortune, 11 Aug. 2026 This is Gordo and Tracy sacrificing themselves by running onto the moon’s surface with only duct-tape suits to stop a nuclear reactor from melting down. — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 10 July 2026 What beef tallow is and how it’s made Beef tallow is a white, shelf-stable cooking fat made by rendering — or melting down — the fatty tissue that surrounds a cow’s organs, according to Michelle Crouch at AARP. — Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Kansas City Star, 19 May 2026 Practice non-reaction This can feel counterintuitive, but sometimes the best strategy is to take a pause and not immediately react or intervene when your child is melting down. — ​wendy Wisner, Parents, 3 Apr. 2026 Sidestep a financial wrangle if someone is melting down. — Tribune Content Agency, Baltimore Sun, 5 Jan. 2026 Explosions near the site had already damaged a high-voltage power line; Ukraine feared the failure of cooling systems that prevent nuclear fuel from melting down. — Robin Wright, New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for melting down
Verb
  • There are paintings of boats and horses, and a long, no-nonsense bar top with a captain behind it constantly cracking blisteringly cold martini shakers over martini glasses.
    — Nate Freeman, Vanity Fair, 22 Oct. 2026
  • The studio had an eight-month shoot for The Beast of Mossy Bottom, cracking out footage at the breakneck pace of nearly two seconds per day.
    — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • And how about the Colts choking yesterday against the TITANS of all teams?
    — Zach Dean OutKick, FOXNews.com, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Among those arrested were individuals accused of choking their partners and assaulting their children, the sheriff’s office said.
    — Tanya Babbar, Houston Chronicle, 16 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • This handsome volume runs through 90 European venues, breaking down their unique features, acoustic qualities and performance histories (recent and not so).
    — Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Yamaguchi prepared each course live, skinning a pike conger or breaking down live lobsters from his perch behind the grill.
    — Noah Kaufman, Bon Appetit Magazine, 7 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • See, the thing that fungi are very good at is breaking up rocks and digesting these hard-to-access minerals.
    — Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 15 Oct. 2026
  • In pursuit of this, brides are breaking up with barely-there styling.
    — Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 2 Oct. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Melting down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/melting%20down. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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