as in to crack
to yield to mental or emotional stress
rather than melt down, the team strengthened their resolve and ended up winning the game
Synonyms & Similar Words
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1
as in tailspin
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
2
as in collapse
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Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of melt down
Tony Briscoe, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2026
Experts feared it would be melted down for its gold.
—Ryan Brennan
april 10, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 Apr. 2026
John Cassidy, New Yorker, 11 May 2026
The meltdown peaked in the fourth inning when Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu launched back-to-back homers, pushing the score to a humiliating 10-2.
—Alejandro Avila Outkick, FOXNews.com, 6 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for melt down
Verb
The former Exide Technologies plant in Vernon melted down pallets of lead-acid car batteries in blast furnaces for nearly a century, blanketing up to 10,000 nearby properties with toxic dust, according to state officials.
—Tony Briscoe, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2026
Experts feared it would be melted down for its gold.
—Ryan Brennan
april 10, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 Apr. 2026
Noun
Right now, the source of the disruption in the airline industry is the President’s blundering rather than a financial meltdown that originated on Wall Street.
—John Cassidy, New Yorker, 11 May 2026
The meltdown peaked in the fourth inning when Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu launched back-to-back homers, pushing the score to a humiliating 10-2.
—Alejandro Avila Outkick, FOXNews.com, 6 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for melt down
Recent Examples of Synonyms for melt down
Verb
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The world cracked open, and now everyone’s striving to fit the jagged pieces back into a box called civilized society.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
15 May 2026
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And given that cement is one of the tougher nuts to crack in the struggle to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, concrete solutions are welcome.—
Scott K. Johnson,
ArsTechnica,
15 May 2026
Noun
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Beijing also made a clear warning that the Taiwan issue would be a determining factor that could push the bilateral ties into a tailspin.—
Anniek Bao,
CNBC,
15 May 2026
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Monday’s announcement sent logistics stocks in a tailspin, with GXO shares plummeting more than 17 percent during the day.—
Glenn Taylor,
Footwear News,
6 May 2026
Noun
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The collapse of the government is unlikely to significantly affect Latvia’s foreign policy, as all mainstream parties are some variant of pro-Ukraine and anti-Russia.—
Brady Knox,
The Washington Examiner,
15 May 2026
-
This explains why companies did not experience a commercial-traffic collapse.—
Ming Zhu,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
Noun
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The episode was almost entirely about Margo and her continued freak-out.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Goldman Reinforced The Shift If the legal news was a spark, the Goldman announcement just days later was gasoline on the industry freak-out fire.—
Cat Casey,
Forbes.com,
6 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Boeing has reached confidential pre-trial settlements in most of the dozens of wrongful death lawsuits filed in connection with the Ethiopian Airlines disaster and a similar 737 Max crash five months earlier off the coast of Indonesia that together killed 346 people.—
Rio Yamat,
Fortune,
15 May 2026
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But the 48-year-old former San Francisco County supervisor’s solution — a single-payer-style public disaster insurance program — is poorly defined and presents an enormous risk for a state struggling with chronic deficits.—
Mercury News & East Bay Times Editorial Boards,
Mercury News,
15 May 2026
Noun
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This happened years before, in such a serious way that my friend had to take a three-month medical leave of absence due to what was likely a nervous breakdown.—
R. Eric Thomas,
Chicago Tribune,
21 Apr. 2026
-
When their news anchor (Peter Finch) has a nervous breakdown on the air, suddenly their ratings turn around, bringing on a moral morass only some of them are prepared to face.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
For much the same reason, developers, architects and builders are starting to stress proactively designing for climate catastrophe.—
Jeffrey Steele,
Forbes.com,
18 May 2026
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Local elections in England are usually low-stakes affairs, but this year’s results proved to be a catastrophe for the Labour Party.—
Ava Kofman,
New Yorker,
14 May 2026
Verb
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The intensifying conflict in the Middle East has choked traffic through the Strait of Hormuz – a vital route for roughly 20% of the world’s oil, natural gas and critical raw materials.—
Nimi Princewill,
CNN Money,
15 May 2026
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The lawsuit also claims officers choked Day and slammed him against a wall, eventually coercing him into confessing to killing Irving and Garcia.—
Todd Feurer,
CBS News,
14 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Melt down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/melt%20down. Accessed 22 May. 2026.
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