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
  • Seeing a few chapters out of context is not going to deliver the same thrill as cracking open the new book and reading as the author intended.
    — Anna Moeslein, Glamour, 17 Oct. 2026
  • The researchers developed their fiber-optic system to detect acoustic emissions, or small vibrations produced when materials undergo changes such as cracking.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 16 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Biddy covered most of the journey on foot—the equivalent of about six million steps—herding animals at the rear of her owner’s wagon company and choking her way through a moving screen of dust kicked up by the migrant caravan.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026
  • On top of store closures and unsold inventory, the company was choking on enormous debt from a private equity buyout in 2014.
    — Phil Wahba, Fortune, 10 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • 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
  • In lab testing, stool samples from participants with IBD were less effective at breaking down milk proteins, especially in the group who reported food intolerances.
    — Emily Kay Votruba, EverydayHealth.com, 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 20 Oct. 2026.

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