meltdown
meltdown Lexical Profile
meltdown Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A sudden, complete loss of emotional self-control, often resulting from overwhelming stress, sensory overload, or frustration.
"The exhausted toddler had a complete meltdown in the grocery store aisle when his favorite snack was out of stock."
A disastrous, rapid collapse or failure of a financial market, institution, or organizational system.
"Regulators introduced stricter banking rules to prevent another global financial meltdown."
A severe nuclear reactor accident in which the fuel core overheats and melts due to a failure of the cooling system, potentially releasing dangerous radiation.
"Emergency backup generators are designed to keep coolant flowing and prevent a nuclear meltdown during a power outage."
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in the 1930s as a noun compound from the phrasal verb 'melt down' (originally referring to the melting of ice or metal), the term gained widespread prominence in the 1950s and 1960s in nuclear engineering before expanding metaphorically to financial and emotional collapses in the late 20th century.