Severe overheating of the core of a nuclear reactor resulting in the core melting and potentially in radiation escaping.
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.
A tantrum or emotional outburst.
A situation being likened to a nuclear meltdown; a crisis.
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. https://web.archive.org/web/20041209011615/http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=587262
The process of melting or fusion, especially to extract a metal from its ore.