MELTING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does melting mean? 

• MELTING (noun)
  The noun MELTING has 1 sense:

1. the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid

  Familiarity information: MELTING used as a noun is very rare.

• MELTING (adjective)
  The adjective MELTING has 1 sense:

1. becoming liquid

  Familiarity information: MELTING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MELTING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

melt; melting; thaw; thawing

Context example:

the thawing of a frozen turkey takes several hours

Hypernyms ("melting" is a kind of...):

heating; warming (the process of becoming warmer; a rising temperature)

phase change; phase transition; physical change; state change (a change from one state (solid or liquid or gas) to another without a change in chemical composition)

Derivation:

melt (become or cause to become soft or liquid)

melt (reduce or cause to be reduced from a solid to a liquid state, usually by heating)

• MELTING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Becoming liquid

Synonyms:

liquescent; melting

Similar:

unfrozen (not frozen)

 Context examples 

As the pace of warming oceans and melting glaciers and ice sheets accelerated, scientists expected to see a corresponding increase in the rate of sea level rise.

(Volcanic eruption masked acceleration in sea level rise, NSF)

The melting of Antarctica's ice sheet is currently responsible for 20-25% of global sea level rise.

(Antarctica's Effect on Sea Level Rise in Coming Centuries, NASA)

They contain enough ice to raise global sea level by 4 feet (1.2 meters) and are melting faster than most scientists had expected.

(West Antarctic Glacier loss appears unstoppable, NASA)

The fastest-changing glacier of the three (Smith Glacier) is melting nearly six times as fast as a previous estimate for this region, losing up to 230 feet in ice thickness each year.

(Studies Offer New Glimpse of Melting Under Antarctic Glaciers, NASA)

The warmer temperatures encourage melting and sublimation at all ice surfaces exposed to the air.

(Retreat of Yakutat Glacier, NASA)

It is mostly found as a white, odorless, tasteless, waxy solid, with a melting point between 47C and 65C.

(Paraffin, NCI Thesaurus)

The wear and tear of spring storms and melting snows had underwashed the bank and in one place had made a small cave out of a narrow fissure.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

This area, known as the Ross Sea Polynya, absorbs solar heat quickly in summer and this solar heat source is clearly influencing melting in the ice shelf cavity.

(Rapid melting of the world’s largest ice shelf linked to solar heat in the ocean, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Soon the sand was baking and the resin melting in the logs of the block house.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Ceres' Type III features may involve a brief melting of some of the ice within the soil-like regolith, causing the material to flow like mud before refreezing.

(Landslides on Ceres Reflect Ice Content, NASA)