meltdown
See also: melt down
English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]meltdown (countable and uncountable, plural meltdowns)
- Severe overheating of the core of a nuclear reactor resulting in the core melting and potentially in radiation escaping.
- Four years have passed since the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, but the grim legacy of the Soviet catastrophe is still unfolding. [1]
- A situation being likened to a nuclear meltdown; a crisis.
- 2001, James Wickham, “Perv Spoof Bosses Axe Wrestling”, in The Daily Star:
- Channel 4 switchboards went into meltdown this week when viewers called to complain about a Brass Eye programme on child sex.
- Computer engineers were at a loss last night to explain why the Government had been hit by arguably the worst electronic meltdown in the history of Whitehall. [2]
- 2019 August 30, Jackie Flynn Mogensen, “One Very Bad Habit Is Fueling the Global Recycling Meltdown”, in Mother Jones[3]:
- Not only that, but wishcycling is playing a big role in the current global recycling meltdown.
- (informal) A tantrum or emotional outburst.
- 2006, Ercille Christmas, Thoughts of a Proud American, page 285:
- I had a major meltdown at work today. After being instructed one more time about additional work that I was to delegate to my direct reports, I snapped, but in a very polite manner.
- (psychology) An autistic response to stress or sensory overload, in which the person is overwhelmed by intense, seemingly disproportionate emotions, behaving erratically and becoming unable to mask.
- 2016, Laura, quoted in Wenn Lawson & Kirsty Dempster-Rivett, The Guide to Good Mental Health on the Autism Spectrum, page 26:
- Now if I am really anxious, I can take a moment to think about what is making me anxious and what to do about it; before I would just spiral into a meltdown really quickly, with no understanding of why.
- 2019, Bill Nason, The Autism Discussion Page on Stress, Anxiety, Shutdowns and Meltdowns: Proactive Strategies for Minimizing Sensory, Social and Emotional Overload[4], page 171:
- However, if the accumulation of stress chemicals, stimulation and/or demands are occurring too fast or are too intense to block out, then a meltdown is probable.
- 2022, Barb Cook, Yenn Purkiss, The Autism and Neurodiversity Self Advocacy Handbook: Developing the Skills to Determine Your Own Future[5], page 33:
- If you're experiencing challenges that are extremely stressful and may lead you to being overwhelmed, or set off a meltdown in the workplace, this may be very concerning to your work colleagues.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:meltdown.
- 2016, Laura, quoted in Wenn Lawson & Kirsty Dempster-Rivett, The Guide to Good Mental Health on the Autism Spectrum, page 26:
Synonyms
[edit]- (tantrum): see Thesaurus:tantrum
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- → Japanese: メルトダウン (merutodaun)
Translations
[edit]severe overheating of the core of a nuclear reactor
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situation being likened to a nuclear meltdown
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