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
-
molten,
past participle
-
melting
present participle
noun
-
the act or process of melting; state of being melted.
-
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:
“It is hard to grasp these melt rates and it hurts to see the ice disappearing,” said Matthias Huss, head of the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Jackson said it was a “scary situation” as the window started to melt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
That change appears to have helped hold the average melt season relatively steady over longer periods, even though individual years can still differ substantially.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
Since then, the average length of the melt season has remained fairly steady, even though the timing can still vary sharply from one year to the next.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
Bass and the other archaeologists concluded the merchant captain of the ship used these broken implements as scrap bronze, which he or someone else could melt down to make brand-new tools.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
Amungme environmental activist Adolfina Kum stresses how important the peak is to her people - and how traditions and cultural foundations risk being shattered as the ice melts.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
The onion — and yes, I use a whole medium white onion, because we are committing to the bit — melts into the background, helped along by both onion and garlic powder.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
Some outlet glaciers in East Antarctica also remain vulnerable as warm ocean water melts ice shelves from below and contributes to faster ice flow.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026
If it melts, "it especially affects the lingering aftertaste once you've taken a sip."
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
When solid sulfur is heated a little past the normal boiling point of water, to about 115°C, it melts and changes color.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
One TikToker documented how her carefully packed blocks melted by arrival, the chili-flavored butter leaking onto the strawberry and raspberry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
"And at that impact region, there must be very high temperature that melted and compressed the stone beneath it," he says.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
The boat is named Rarebit, which is also the name of a traditional Welsh meal consisting of seasoned melted cheese sauce served over hot toast.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
In that moment, the city, the noise, the rush, my daily fears and anxieties all melted away.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
To Duane, a melted iceberg would unquestionably fall under the Sad Things category.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
"Polymer source material is abundantly available from consumer waste, and our catalyst system, aluminum molten salts, is very cheap," Qiu said.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026
The researchers now want to investigate ways to confine the molten salts, potentially using halogens or carbon-based materials, which could make the salts easier to separate and process while improving their stability.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026
They stand amid a Seussian obstacle course of towers of paper, cabinets of type, and pools of molten lead.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
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
Her great horsy face had turned the colour of molten lava and her eyes were glittering with fury.
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
Elisabeth said the work, created as part of the International Day of Birmingham, celebrated the region's heritage as a "magical melting pot".
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Ocean temperatures already are elevated because of da combination of the strengthening El Niño, weather patterns and long-term global warming, melting polar ice caps, pushing tide lines higher and providing extra energy to storms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
For decades, Arctic sea ice generally began melting earlier in the spring and did not freeze again until later in the fall.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
Industry officials say their hopes of fending off a ban are melting away but that they are still making a last stand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 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.
