melt
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
• Syn:
thaw, thawing, melting
• Derivationally related forms:
melt (for: melting), thaw (for: thawing), thaw (for: thaw)
• Hypernyms:
heating, warming, phase change, phase transition, state change, physical change
1. reduce or cause to be reduced from a solid to a liquid state, usually by heating (Freq. 3)
- melt butter
- melt down gold
- The wax melted in the sun
• Syn:
run, melt down
• Derivationally related forms:
meltable, melting
• Hypernyms:
dissolve, resolve, break up
• Hyponyms:
fuse, try, render
• Verb Group:
run, bleed
• Verb Frames:
- Something ----s
- Somebody ----s something
- Something ----s something
2. become more relaxed, easygoing, or genial (Freq. 2)
- With age, he mellowed
• Syn:
mellow, mellow out
• Derivationally related forms:
mellowing (for: mellow)
• Hypernyms:
change
• Verb Group:
mellow
• Verb Frames:
- Something ----s
3. become or cause to become soft or liquid (Freq. 2)
- 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
• Syn:
dissolve, thaw, unfreeze, unthaw, dethaw
• Derivationally related forms:
meltable, melter, melting, thaw (for: thaw), thawing (for: thaw)
• Hypernyms:
liquefy, flux, liquify
• Hyponyms:
deliquesce, defrost, deice, de-ice
• Verb Frames:
- Something ----s
- Somebody ----s something
- Something ----s something
4. lose its distinct outline or shape;
blend gradually (Freq. 1)
- Hundreds of actors were melting into the scene
• Syn:
meld
• Hypernyms:
blend, flux, mix, conflate, commingle,
immix, fuse, coalesce, meld, combine, merge
• Verb Frames:
- Something ----s
- Somebody ----s
- Something is ----ing PP
- Somebody ----s PP
5. become less intense and fade away gradually
- her resistance melted under his charm
- her hopes evaporated after years of waiting for her fiance
• Syn:
disappear, evaporate
• Hypernyms:
weaken
• Verb Frames:
- Something ----s
- Something is ----ing PP
6. 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
• Syn:
fade
• Derivationally related forms:
fade (for: fade)
• Hypernyms:
weaken
• Verb Frames:
- Something ----s
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