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
Relevance
1
as in tailspin
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in collapse
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of melt down
Allen Farmelo, Robb Report, 21 Nov. 2024
But 2024 brought with it more of the same: the Colts melted down late in the year, losing two pivotal games to the Denver Broncos and New York Giants with their playoff hopes on the line.
—Zak Keefer, The Athletic, 5 Jan. 2025
Ian Austen, New York Times, 4 Jan. 2025
Here are other significant state laws taking effect Jan 1.
Taylor Swift ticket meltdown spurs industry changes
Minnesota is the latest state to increase transparency when purchasing tickets to concerts, sporting events and other large-scale events.
—Acacia Squires, NPR, 31 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for melt down 
Verb
Collector friends of mine have suspected that they were melted down, but who knows.
—Allen Farmelo, Robb Report, 21 Nov. 2024
But 2024 brought with it more of the same: the Colts melted down late in the year, losing two pivotal games to the Denver Broncos and New York Giants with their playoff hopes on the line.
—Zak Keefer, The Athletic, 5 Jan. 2025
Noun
The worst nuclear energy accident in U.S. history, the partial meltdown of a reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979, would happen during Mr. Carter’s presidency.
—Ian Austen, New York Times, 4 Jan. 2025
Here are other significant state laws taking effect Jan 1.
Taylor Swift ticket meltdown spurs industry changes
Minnesota is the latest state to increase transparency when purchasing tickets to concerts, sporting events and other large-scale events.
—Acacia Squires, NPR, 31 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for melt down
Recent Examples of Synonyms for melt down
Verb
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Art didn’t crack the top 1,000 most popular names in the U.S. in 2023, but Arthur (No. 128, boys), Arturo (No. 621, boys) and Artemis (No. 856, girls) did, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA).—
Ryan Brennan,
Kansas City Star,
20 Jan. 2025
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Hicks, who threw 109 2/3 innings, transitioned from reliever to starter after signing in free agency; Harrison, who totaled 124 1/3 frames, cracked an Opening Day roster for the first time in his career.—
Justice delos Santos,
The Mercury News,
18 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Is Peter Laviolette the right coach to get the team out of this tailspin?—
Arthur Staple,
The Athletic,
14 Jan. 2025
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The season was spinning out of control, with the Niners losing three straight games, each in increasingly embarrassing fashion, and another loss — especially to a team with a rookie quarterback and a first-time head coach — would likely put it in an irreversible tailspin.—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
The Mercury News,
8 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The building’s collapse was also one of the deadliest structural engineering failures in United States history.—
Laura Kiniry,
Smithsonian Magazine,
28 Jan. 2025
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Environmental groups warned the order could hasten ecological collapse in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.—
Ari Plachta,
Sacramento Bee,
27 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Things were going fair to middling with his candidacy until Biden’s catastrophic, catatonic debate performance in June, which caused a major Democratic freak-out and resulted in his grudging departure from the ticket and endorsement of Harris.—
Mark Z. Barabak,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Nov. 2024
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Worry not: Renée Rouleau Rest Day Masque helps skin bounce back from ingredient irritation with an occlusive formula that seals in the soothing, inflammation-reducing benefits of shea butter, fatty acids, and vitamin E. No more flaky freak-out face.—
Allure,
Allure,
26 Sep. 2024
Noun
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And the nation marked 39 years since the Challenger disaster.—
Rebecca Morin,
USA TODAY,
29 Jan. 2025
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The trailer has tipped most of the big gags, from the disaster at the dock to Jim wrestling an alligator, but Stoller’s script is strong enough that the movie’s pleasures are far from spoiled.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
29 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The film has a few major plot holes, mostly concerning the present-tense family meal where Lucas seems to be having a nervous breakdown.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
27 Jan. 2025
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Paterson beautifully depicts a man who’s quietly, and sometimes not so quietly, experiencing a nervous breakdown as the world around him grows stranger and more absurd.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
5 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Breathless viewers were left to wonder how this bloodbath might play out.—
Andy Swift,
TVLine,
7 Jan. 2025
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Around them were 19,000 empty seats that in just 24 hours would be filled with spectators watching this inevitable bloodbath of a basketball game.—
Sam Blum,
The Athletic,
6 Jan. 2025
Verb
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An artists’ livelihood lost to flames That same pungent, chemical smell had choked the air just a few miles away as the fire kept racing before dawn on January 8 through west Altadena, sending embers zipping through the air like bullets.—
Elizabeth Wolfe,
CNN,
17 Jan. 2025
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Brooks, a 43-year-old Black man, was punched, kicked, choked and manhandled in the Dec. 9 beating at Marcy Correctional Facility north of Utica.—
Joseph Wilkinson,
New York Daily News,
16 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near melt down
Cite this Entry
“Melt down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/melt%20down. Accessed 1 Feb. 2025.
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