melt

1. 1.

   reduce or cause to be reduced from a solid to a liquid state, usually by heating

   “melt butter”

   “melt down gold”

   “The wax melted in the sun”

   Synonymsrunmelt down

   Broaderdissolve

   Narrowerfusetry
2. 2.

   become or cause to become soft or liquid

   “The sun melted the ice”

   “the ice thawed”

   “the ice cream melted”

   “The heat melted the wax”

   “The giant iceberg dissolved over the years during the global warming phase”

   “dethaw the meat”

   Synonymsdissolvethawunfreezeunthawdethaw

   Broaderliquefy

   Narrowerdeliquescedefrost
3. 3.

   become more relaxed, easygoing, or genial

   “With age, he mellowed”

   Synonymsmellowmellow out

   Broaderchange
4. 4.

   lose its distinct outline or shape; blend gradually

   “Hundreds of actors were melting into the scene”

   Synonymsmeld

   Broaderblend
5. 5.

   become less clearly visible or distinguishable; disappear gradually or seemingly

   “The scene begins to fade”

   “The tree trunks are melting into the forest at dusk”

   Synonymsfade

   Broaderweaken
6. 6.

   become less intense and fade away gradually

   “her resistance melted under his charm”

   “her hopes evaporated after years of waiting for her fiance”

   Synonymsdisappearevaporate

   Broaderweaken

1. 1.

   the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid

   “the power failure caused a refrigerator melt that was a disaster”

   “the thawing of a frozen turkey takes several hours”

   Synonymsthawthawingmelting

   Broaderheatingphase change

Other forms of melt

plural

melts·

past tense or participle

molten

present participle

melting·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about melt

What does melt mean?

melt means "reduce or cause to be reduced from a solid to a liquid state, usually by heating". That is the primary sense; the word has 7 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in melt?

melt has 1 syllable: melt. In IPA it is /ˈmɛlt/.

What is another word for melt?

Close synonyms include run, melt down, dissolve, thaw, unfreeze. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is melt a common word?

melt is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.