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:
The Himalayas are approaching a dangerous threshold as glaciers melt faster, glacial lakes grow more unstable and the mountains face a widening gap in monitoring, according to new research.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
"Because the collision was considered violent enough to melt and vaporize large portions of Earth and Theia, those previous papers assumed that it is okay to approximate them as fluids," Asphaug said.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
This luxury product, believed by those in the industry to melt more slowly than regular blocks, is a staple of Japan's cocktail culture.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
But all such initiatives bring rules and regulations, which snowball and never melt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
But then he smiles the smile that makes me melt, and I think I probably imagined it.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
If it melts, "it especially affects the lingering aftertaste once you've taken a sip."
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 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
"Enjoy The @endofoakstreet Block Party chaos with me as my outfit literally melts in the heat!!"
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
My alma mater Wisconsin is going to be sponsored by Culver’s, the beloved Midwest restaurant chain with frozen custard that melts like a Badger first-quarter lead.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
The Boo Hag howls and thrashes as the skin melts into the tiled floor.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
In that moment, the city, the noise, the rush, my daily fears and anxieties all melted away.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
During the fire’s rapid spread, the water system quickly lost pressure as crews drew heavily on hydrants, residents ran sprinklers and hoses, and water gushed out of melted pipes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Gather up all the boxes of silver, take them to a dealer to be melted down into some form of liquid scrap metal and walk away with a cash windfall.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
So I started playing: pumpkin purée for softness, cold coffee to deepen the cocoa, melted butter, two whole zucchini and a frankly generous amount of chocolate.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
Entire seas froze over and then melted with the changing seasons.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
Early in a planet's history, much of this region can remain molten.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 12, 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
Beneath the Pacific Ocean, a large region of molten material began moving strongly eastward instead of continuing its weaker westward flow.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
When I look down, I see bits of it crumbling away to reveal molten lava beneath our feet.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
"Glaciers are melting faster than they were a decade ago."
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Many of its holdings fit the definition of a melting ice cube.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
The big, green lady in the harbor and the melting pot and all that.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
Scientists say glaciers in the Himalayas, the world's highest mountain range, are melting faster as global temperatures rise.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
The metal rims of the wheels had sunk three inches into the melting asphalt, and the truck ticked and popped and smoked, still hot from its incineration.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
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.
