melt

¹ American  

[melt] / mɛlt /

verb (used without object)

melted, melted, molten, melting

1. to become liquefied by warmth or heat, as ice, snow, butter, or metal.

2. to become liquid; dissolve.

   Let the cough drop melt in your mouth.

3. to pass, dwindle, or fade gradually (often followed byaway ).

   His fortune slowly melted away.

4. to pass, change, or blend gradually (often followed byinto ).

   Night melted into day.

   Synonyms:

   fade

5. to become softened in feeling by pity, sympathy, love, or the like.

   The tyrant's heart would not melt.

6. Obsolete. to be subdued or overwhelmed by sorrow, dismay, etc.

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verb (used with object)

melted, melted, molten, melting

1. to reduce to a liquid state by warmth or heat; fuse.

   Fire melts ice.

2. to cause to pass away or fade.

3. to cause to pass, change, or blend gradually.

4. to soften in feeling, as a person or the heart.

   Synonyms:

   touch, mollify, disarm, affect

noun

1. the act or process of melting; state of being melted.

2. something that is melted.

3. a quantity melted at one time.

4. a sandwich or other dish topped with cheese and heated through until the cheese melts.

   a tuna melt.

melt ² American  

[melt] / mɛlt /

noun

1. the spleen, especially that of a cow, pig, etc.

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melt British  

/ mɛlt /

verb

1. to liquefy (a solid) or (of a solid) to become liquefied, as a result of the action of heat

2. to become or make liquid; dissolve

   cakes that melt in the mouth

3. (often foll by away) to disappear; fade

4. (foll by down) to melt (metal scrap) for reuse

5. (often foll by into) to blend or cause to blend gradually

6. to make or become emotional or sentimental; soften

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noun

1. the act or process of melting

2. something melted or an amount melted

melt Scientific  

/ mĕlt /

1. To change from a solid to a liquid state by heating or being heated with sufficient energy at the melting point.

2. See also heat of fusion

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melt Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing melt

• butter wouldn't melt

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Related Words

Melt, dissolve, fuse, thaw imply reducing a solid substance to a liquid state. To melt is to bring a solid to a liquid condition by the agency of heat: to melt butter. Dissolve, though sometimes used interchangeably with melt, applies to a different process, depending upon the fact that certain solids, placed in certain liquids, distribute their particles throughout the liquids: A greater number of solids can be dissolved in water and in alcohol than in any other liquids. To fuse is to subject a solid (usually a metal) to a very high temperature; it applies especially to melting or blending metals together: Bell metal is made by fusing copper and tin. To thaw is to restore a frozen substance to its normal (liquid, semiliquid, or more soft and pliable) state by raising its temperature above the freezing point: Sunshine will thaw ice in a lake.

Other Word Forms

• meltability noun
• meltable adjective
• melter noun
• meltingly adverb
• meltingness noun
• nonmeltable adjective
• nonmelting adjective
• unmeltable adjective
• unmelted adjective
• unmelting adjective

Etymology

Origin of melt¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English melten, Old English meltan (intransitive), m(i)elten (transitive) “to melt, digest”; cognate with Old Norse melta “to digest,” Greek méldein “to melt”

Origin of melt²

First recorded in 1575–85; variant of milt

Explanation

To melt means to fade away slowly and disappear, like a snowman in the middle of the Sahara. "I'm melting! I'm melting!" — Those are the feeble cries of ice cubes on a hot summer day and Wicked Witches doused with water by a meddling girl from Kansas. To melt a stick of butter into liquid form sounds like an excellent idea for your popcorn — but perhaps not for your diet. And when your puppy looks up at you with those big brown puppy eyes, your heart probably melts — even if he just ate your slippers.

Example Sentences

This model estimates key processes such as snow accumulation, melt, and changes in the active layer to better represent real conditions.

From Science Daily • Apr. 4, 2026

As warmer temperatures melt polar ice, a parallel danger lurks in high mountain areas where melting glaciers have created thousands of new lakes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

Pro tip: If you’re driving, leave yourself some snacks that won’t melt and some waters in the car so you have some sustenance if you do get stuck.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026

That could melt down world financial markets and horrify his already disgruntled allies in Europe, Asia and the Gulf.

From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026

His body seemed to melt to the ground.

From I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 by Lauren Tarshis

Related Words

• disappear
• disintegrate
• evaporate
• fade
• heat
• soften
• thaw
• vanish
• warm