meltdown

[melt-doun]

See more synonyms for meltdown on Thesaurus.com

noun

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.
a quickly developing breakdown or collapse: a bond-market meltdown; the meltdown of a marriage.
Informal. a sudden loss of control over one’s feelings or behavior: My toddler had a meltdown when I tried to leave the house.

Origin of meltdown

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for meltdown

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

Examples from the Web for meltdown

Contemporary Examples of meltdown

The Big Five banks dubbed too big to fail, are 35 percent bigger than they were when the meltdown was triggered.
Sen. Warren’s Main Street Crusade to Pressure Clinton
Eleanor Clift
January 8, 2015
Last year, it began to recover a bit for the first time since the meltdown—it was logged at $52,100 in June 2013.
The Real Reason Democrats Lost
Michael Tomasky
November 6, 2014
Then in 2008, the year of the meltdown, it dropped to $53,644.
The Real Reason Democrats Lost
Michael Tomasky
November 6, 2014
The deficit is down to 2.8 percent of GDP, from a high of 10.1 percent in the wake of the meltdown.
The Real Reason Democrats Lost
Michael Tomasky
November 6, 2014
After the most recent Avicii meltdown, an avid finger-pointing game has gone wild on the Web.
Don't Blame Avicii For His Druggy Tour
Abby Haglage
June 27, 2014

British Dictionary definitions for meltdown

meltdown

noun

(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
informal a sudden disastrous failure with potential for widespread harm, as a stock-exchange crash
informal the process or state of irreversible breakdown or declinethe community is slowly going into meltdown

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for meltdown

by 1937 in the ice-cream industry; by 1956 in reference to a nuclear reactor, from verbal phrase, from melt (v.) + down (adv.). Metaphoric extension since 1979.

meltdown in Science

meltdown

[mĕlt′doun′]

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

meltdown in Culture

meltdown

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.