Meaning

8 senses
  1. (countable)An act or process of melting.

  2. An act or process of melting.

    (uncountable)Severe uncontrolled overheating and melting of the fuel in the core of a nuclear reactor, with the potential for radiation to escape; (countable) an instance of this.

    Kernschmelze

    мелтда́унmɛltdáun, расплавле́ниеrasplavlénije, разруше́ние и́з-за расплавле́нияrazrušénije íz-za rasplavlénija

    розплавленняrozplavlennya

    severe overheating of the core of a nuclear reactor resulting in the core melting and radiation escaping

  3. (countable, rare)A mass of melted material.

  4. (figuratively, uncountable)Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: uncontrolled disorder which often has disastrous consequences; (countable) a situation involving this; a crisis.

  5. Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: uncontrolled disorder which often has disastrous consequences; (countable) a situation involving this; a crisis.

    (countable, figuratively)Synonym of crash (“a sudden large decline in the value of money, stocks or other assets, etc., especially one that causes additional economic difficulties”).

  6. (Sudden) loss of control over one's behaviour, emotions, etc.; (countable) an instance of this.

    (countable, figuratively, informal)An emotional outburst; a fit, a tantrum.

  7. (countable, figuratively, informal)A response to sensory overload or stress, in which an autistic person is overwhelmed by intense, seemingly disproportionate emotions, behaving erratically and becoming unable to mask (“act more neurotypically”).

  8. (countable, figuratively, informal)Synonym of nervous breakdown (“an attack of a psychological disorder such as anxiety or depression which is so severe that it prevents a person from continuing to function normally”); also (loosely), a situation where one is unable to function mentally due to panic, stress, etc.

    Nervenzusammenbruch, Zusammenbruch

    встря́скаvstrjáska

Examples

6 sentences
  1. Tom had a meltdown.

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  2. Mary had a meltdown.

    ruУ Мэри был нервный срыв.

    deMaria erlitt einen Nervenzusammenbruch.

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  3. Mary had a complete meltdown.

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  4. The findings are a warning to conservationists that keeping a small pool of endangered animals could result in inbreeding and genomic meltdown.

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  5. Tom had a meltdown on Twitter.

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Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
severe uncontrolled overheating and melting of the fuel in the core of a nuclear reactor:
Русский
By meaning 2
severe uncontrolled overheating and melting of the fuel in the core of a nuclear reactor:
situation where one is unable to function mentally due to panic, stress, etc.:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
severe uncontrolled overheating and melting of the fuel in the core of a nuclear reactor:
situation where one is unable to function mentally due to panic, stress, etc.:

Origin

From melt (verb) + down (adverb), a deverbal from melt down (verb).

From melt (verb) + down (adverb), a deverbal from melt down (verb).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: meltdowns
Singularmeltdown
Pluralmeltdowns

regular

Synonyms

19 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • severe overheating of the core of a nuclear reactor resulting in the core melting and radiation escaping:nuclear meltdown

Antonyms

1 antonyms

Word family

5 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
meltdown — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto