melt
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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melts,
present (3rd person singular)
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melted,
past participle, past
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molten,
past participle
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melting
present participle
-
to become liquefied by warmth or heat, as ice, snow, butter, or metal.
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to become liquid; dissolve.
Let the cough drop melt in your mouth.
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to pass, dwindle, or fade gradually (often followed byaway ).
His fortune slowly melted away.
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to pass, change, or blend gradually (often followed byinto ).
Night melted into day.
- Synonyms:
- fade
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to become softened in feeling by pity, sympathy, love, or the like.
The tyrant's heart would not melt.
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Obsolete. to be subdued or overwhelmed by sorrow, dismay, etc.
verb (used with object)
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melts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
melted,
past participle, past
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molten,
past participle
-
melting
present participle
noun
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the act or process of melting; state of being melted.
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something that is melted.
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a quantity melted at one time.
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a sandwich or other dish topped with cheese and heated through until the cheese melts.
a tuna melt.
noun
verb
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to liquefy (a solid) or (of a solid) to become liquefied, as a result of the action of heat
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to become or make liquid; dissolve
cakes that melt in the mouth
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(often foll by away) to disappear; fade
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(foll by down) to melt (metal scrap) for reuse
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(often foll by into) to blend or cause to blend gradually
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to make or become emotional or sentimental; soften
noun
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the act or process of melting
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something melted or an amount melted
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To change from a solid to a liquid state by heating or being heated with sufficient energy at the melting point.
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See also heat of fusion
Synonym Usage
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
Derived Forms
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meltabilitynoun
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melternoun
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meltingnessnoun
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meltableadjective
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nonmeltableadjective
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nonmeltingadjective
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unmeltableadjective
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unmeltedadjective
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unmeltingadjective
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meltinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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meltsimple
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meltssimple
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have meltedperfect
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have moltenperfect
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has meltedperfect
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has moltenperfect
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am meltingprogressive
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are meltingprogressive
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is meltingprogressive
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have been meltingperfect progressive
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has been meltingperfect progressive
Past
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meltedsimple
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had meltedperfect
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had moltenperfect
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was meltingprogressive
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were meltingprogressive
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had been meltingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing melt
Beowulf vocabulary
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Cheesy Goodness
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Words for Cheese Writers
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
She was even better at playing the popular mean girl who lets her icy walls melt away to welcome in the new girl.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Unlike many recyclers, which melt electronic waste in bulk, the Royal Mint dismantles devices first.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
Beware of buttercream - this popular wedding cake ingredient is likely to melt if not kept cool.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
"It begins with the transfer of gold from the mantle into a melt that eventually forms volcanoes. The alchemy starts long before the metal reaches the surface."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
Privately, Prime Minister Naoto Kan worried that the fuel in all six of the fuel pools might melt.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
Now, as climate change warms the sea and melts that ice, they have adapted.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
For just a second, the spark between you two is so powerful that it melts away every care outside of that place and time.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
The bouncy freestyle rhythm in “Soho” melts into feverish pop harmonies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
When part of that rock melts, some elements are removed with the molten material.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
ALS is like a lit candle: it melts your nerves and leaves your body a pile of wax.
From "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom
The NSR is believed to be accessible only during the time of year when the ice is melted enough to allow transits without icebreakers.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
According to him, America would have burst into flames and melted into the bedrock mantle if he hadn’t come to town.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026
"All the window and doors have melted and everything has gone," she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Nearly half the Arctic region’s summer ice—an area four times the size of Texas—has melted over five decades, clearing a fairly reliable path in the summer months.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
The recent snow had melted, but the air was cold and the ground was slick with mud.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
The Giant's Causeway is located in Country Antrim, and was formed by intense volcanic activity which forced molten rock up through cracks in the earth.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Mr. Esparza, a four-time Tony nominee, has often exuded a molten intensity onstage, and he bristles with dark ferocity here.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Earth's molten outer core lies about 2200 km below the surface.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
Most cymbals are made of a copper and tin alloy that is melted into molten bronze which is poured into moulds and cooled into disc-shaped blanks.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
It sits on top of an enormous hot spot, a reservoir of molten rock that rises from at least 125 miles down in the Earth.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
Sailing from Busan New Port, the container ship -- the "PanStar Acro" -- will sail to Europe via the Arctic, testing whether a route opened by melting sea ice can be commercially viable.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
But the prospect also carries environmental risks if increased traffic accelerates Arctic melting, with soot emissions that settle on the ice cap trapping heat from sunlight.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
The bodies of two Belgian men who went missing in the Swiss Alps in 1992 have been discovered after being exposed by the melting of a glacier, police have said.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
The new “Arctic Express” route is being operated by a Chinese company seeking to benefit from melting sea ice and slash the time it takes to move goods from Asia to Europe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
His fur was so thick that the snow lay on top of it without even melting.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
