Other forms: meltdowns
A meltdown is a complete loss of composure under strain. Have a meltdown, a total meltdown, a public meltdown.
It is used of adults and children alike, and in autism support it is a specific and serious term for a response to overwhelming input rather than a tantrum — the distinction matters and is often missed. The original sense is nuclear: a reactor meltdown is the core overheating and melting, and Chernobyl and Fukushima are the famous cases. Financial meltdown is the third common use. Note melt down as two words.
1nounmeltdownA complete loss of composure under strain.
“There was a meltdown at about four in the afternoon.”
2nounoverheatingThe overheating and melting of a reactor core.
“Engineers worked through the night to prevent a meltdown at the nuclear plant.”
meltdown is a collapse.
From melt + down, a a deverbal from melt down.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Mental Health & Wellbeing