meltdown
Use Meltdown in a sentence
noun
the melting of a significant portion of a nuclear-reactor core due to inadequate cooling of the fuel elements, a condition that could lead to the escape of radiation.
Origin:
1960–65; noun use of verb phrase melt down
1960–65; noun use of verb phrase melt down
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To meltdown
Collins
World English Dictionary
meltdown (ˈmɛltˌdaʊn) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | (in a nuclear reactor) the melting of the fuel rods as a result of a defect in the cooling system, with the possible escape of radiation into the environment |
| 2. | informal a sudden disastrous failure with potential for widespread harm, as a stock-exchange crash |
| 3. | informal the process or state of irreversible breakdown or decline: the community is slowly going into meltdown |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
Meltdown
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
Etymonline
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
| meltdown (mělt'doun') Pronunciation Key
Severe overheating of a nuclear reactor core, resulting in melting of the core and escape of radiation. |
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
meltdown definition
The most serious accident that can occur at a nuclear reactor. In a meltdown, the radioactive material in the reactor becomes very hot, melting some or all of the fuel in the reactor. A meltdown may or may not be followed by the release of radioactive material to the environment. A partial meltdown, with very little external radiation, occurred at Three Mile Island in 1979; a complete meltdown happened at Chernobyl in 1986.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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FOLDOC
Example sentences
If you can get them out of whatever meltdown they're in, they are their normal sweet selves.
But for now the priority is to prevent a systemic meltdown, not to accelerate it for the sake of principle.
Heat shock is the subtle damage that comes long before complete meltdown.
Visitors to her house witnessed her in core meltdown.
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