melting

UK: /ˈmeltɪŋ/

From the verb melt: (⇒ conjugate)

melting is: ⓘ

v pres p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

melt¹ /mɛlt/   v. 

1. Physics to (cause to) become liquid by heat: [no object]
   In just a few hours the snow melted.
   [~ + object]
   The hot sun melted the snow.
2. to dissolve:
   [no object] Melt 1/4 cup of sugar in 2 cups of boiling water.
3. to (cause to) become less or nothing: [no object]
   His fortune slowly melted away.
   [~ + object + away]
   The cost of her medicine melted their savings away.
   [~ + away + object]
   The cost melted away their savings.
4. to pass;
   blend:
   [no object] Night melted into day.
5. to (cause to) become softened in feeling: [no object]
   His heart melted when he heard about her problems.
   [~ + object]
   a story that would melt your heart.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

melt¹  (melt), v., melt•ed, melt•ed or mol•ten, melt•ing, n. 
v.i. 

1. Physics to become liquefied by warmth or heat, as ice, snow, butter, or metal.
2. to become liquid;
   dissolve:
   Let the cough drop melt in your mouth.
3. to pass, dwindle, or fade gradually (often fol. by away):
   His fortune slowly melted away.
4. to pass, change, or blend gradually (often fol. by into):
   Night melted into day.
5. to become softened in feeling by pity, sympathy, love, or the like:
   The tyrant's heart would not melt.
6. [Obs.] to be subdued or overwhelmed by sorrow, dismay, etc.

v.t. 

7. to reduce to a liquid state by warmth or heat;
   fuse:
   Fire melts ice.
8. to cause to pass away or fade.
9. to cause to pass, change, or blend gradually.
10. to soften in feeling, as a person or the heart.

n. 

11. the act or process of melting;
    state of being melted.
12. something that is melted.
13. a quantity melted at one time.
14. Food a sandwich or other dish topped with melted cheese:
    a tuna melt.

• bef. 900; Middle English melten, Old English meltan (intrans.), m(i)elten (transitive) to melt, digest; cognate with Old Norse melta to digest, Greek méldein to melt

melt′a•ble, adj. 
melt′a•bil′i•ty, n. 
melt′ing•ly, adv. 
melt′ing•ness, n. 
Synonyms

• 1. Melt, dissolve, fuse, thaw imply reducing a solid substance to a liquid state.
  To melt is to bring a solid to a liquid condition by the agency of heat:
  to melt butter.
  Dissolve, though sometimes used interchangeably with melt, applies to a different process, depending upon the fact that certain solids, placed in certain liquids, distribute their particles throughout the liquids:
  A greater number of solids can be dissolved in water and in alcohol than in any other liquids.
  To fuse is to subject a solid (usually a metal) to a very high temperature; it applies esp. to melting or blending metals together:
  Bell metal is made by fusing copper and tin.
  To thaw is to restore a frozen substance to its normal (liquid, semiliquid, or more soft and pliable) state by raising its temperature above the freezing point:
  Sunshine will thaw ice in a lake.
• 4. dwindle.
• 10. gentle, mollify, relax.

melt²  (melt), n. 

1. the spleen, esp. that of a cow, pig, etc.

Also, milt. 

• variant of milt 1575–85

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

melt / mɛlt/ verb (melts, melting, melted, melted, molten / ˈməʊltən/)

1. to liquefy (a solid) or (of a solid) to become liquefied, as a result of the action of heat
2. to become or make liquid; dissolve
3. (often followed by away) to disappear; fade
4. (followed by down) to melt (metal scrap) for reuse
5. (often followed by into) to blend or cause to blend gradually
6. to make or become emotional or sentimental; soften

noun

1. the act or process of melting
2. something melted or an amount melted
3. a hot sandwich containing melted cheese: a tuna melt
4. a meek, submissive, or timid person

Etymology: Old English meltan to digest; related to Old Norse melta to malt (beer), digest, Greek meldein to melt

ˈmeltable adjective

ˈmelter noun