meltdownnoun [ C or U ]
uk/ˈmelt.daʊn/us/ˈmelt.daʊn/meltdown noun [ C or U ] (NUCLEAR)
an extremely dangerous situation in a nuclear power station in which the nuclear fuel becomes very hot and melts through its container and escapes into the environment
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Accidents and disasters
- a knockout blow idiom
- accident
- accidental
- accidentally
- accidentally on purpose idiom
- banana skin
- calamity
- cataclysm
- catastrophe
- debacle
- disaster area
- disastrous
- emergency
- forest fire
- holocaust
- knockout
- perfect storm
- snafu
- the devil to pay idiom
- tragedy
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Physics: energy, force & power
meltdown noun [ C or U ] (FAILURE)
a complete failure, especially in financial matters:
financial/economic/market meltdown
The last few months have seen the progressive meltdown of the country's political system.
informal an occasion when a person becomes extremely upset and is not able to deal with a problem or situation
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Failures
- a dog's breakfast idiom
- another/the final nail in the coffin idiom
- breakdown
- car crash
- cock-up
- dead duck
- foul-up
- free fall
- hash
- lemon
- lost cause
- lulu
- mess
- mess-up
- parody
- slim pickings
- slush pile
- track record
- train wreck
- turkey
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Coping and not coping