different between overheating vs meltdown

English

Verb

overheating

1. present participle of overheat

Noun

overheating (plural overheatings)

1. A situation where something is overheated.
   • 1964, Metal Mining & Processing (volume 1, page 32)

     Even if no weakening effects were noticed after one or two overheatings, the cumulative heat effects would cause embrittlement and failure after subsequent overheatings.

Translations

English

Etymology

From the verb phrase melt down.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: melt?down

Noun

meltdown (countable and uncountable, plural meltdowns)

1. 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]

2. 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]
3. (figuratively) A tantrum.

Synonyms

• (tantrum): see Thesaurus:tantrum

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ?????? (merutodaun)

Translations

See also

• China syndrome