meltdown

American  

[melt-daun] / ˈmɛltˌdaʊn /

noun

• meltdowns
  plural

1. the melting of a significant portion of a nuclear-reactor core due to inadequate cooling of the fuel elements, a condition that could lead to the escape of radiation.

2. a quickly developing breakdown or collapse.

   a bond-market meltdown;

   the meltdown of a marriage.

3. Informal. a sudden loss of control over one’s feelings or behavior.

   My toddler had a meltdown when I tried to leave the house.

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meltdown British  

/ ˈmɛltˌdaʊn /

noun

1. (in a nuclear reactor) the melting of the fuel rods as a result of a defect in the cooling system, with the possible escape of radiation into the environment

2. informal a sudden disastrous failure with potential for widespread harm, as a stock-exchange crash

3. informal the process or state of irreversible breakdown or decline

   the community is slowly going into meltdown

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meltdown Scientific  

/ mĕlt′doun′ /

1. Severe overheating of a nuclear reactor core, resulting in melting of the core and escape of radiation.

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meltdown Cultural  

1. The most serious accident that can occur at a nuclear reactor. In a meltdown, the radioactive material in the reactor becomes very hot, melting some or all of the fuel in the reactor. A meltdown may or may not be followed by the release of radioactive material to the environment. A partial meltdown, with very little external radiation, occurred at Three Mile Island (see also Three Mile Island) in 1979; a complete meltdown happened at Chernobyl in 1986.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• meltdowns
  plural

Etymology

Origin of meltdown

First recorded in 1960–65; noun use of verb phrase melt down

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

meltdown meltdowns

But Piastri had some kind of meltdown on the streets of Baku, what he described after arriving back in the city this week as "the worst race of my career".

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

The best case for not selling Berkshire right now is if you think we are going to have another stock-market meltdown sometime soon.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

The “SaaSpocalypse,” a play on the acronym for software as a service, became the watchword for the meltdown.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

In “Digger,” he returns to serious cinema caked in prosthetics playing an oil baron who causes a global meltdown.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

After death, the cadaver suddenly deteriorates: the internal organs, having been dead or partially dead for days, have already begun to dissolve, and a sort of shock-related meltdown occurs.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

The exchange reflects the renaissance under way in the uranium market, which spent a decade in the doldrums after the Fukushima meltdowns.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

Feelings bubbled up uncontrollably: inconsolable howls in infancy, classroom meltdowns in childhood, rages in adolescence.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Brady, who was born in Bathgate, West Lothian, sought a diagnosis about five years ago as she was experiencing meltdowns.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

It was one of the biggest software meltdowns of all time, and the stock declined by 36% in the next two weeks.

From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026

Mrs. Moss’s lips turned into a snide grin, an expression that used to precede some of her meltdowns.

From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter

Related Words

• accident
• adversity
• calamity
• casualty
• cataclysm
• crash
• debacle
• devastation
• disaster
• emergency
• failure
• fiasco
• hardship
• misery
• mishap
• tragedy
• trouble
• wreck