› ECONOMICS, FINANCE a situation in which an industry, economy, etc. is badly affected by a lot of problems within a short period of time: Analysts were watching for signs of a meltdown following problems at three of Wall Street's major investment banks. A deadly new computer virus caused much of the internet to go into meltdown last weekend.a meltdown in sth A meltdown in the mortgage industry has made it more difficult to get a loan or to refinance.a meltdown of sth The two officials are expected to help develop a plan to prevent a meltdown of the county's finances.be in meltdown Since the credit crisis, the whole banking industry has been in meltdown. financial/economic/political meltdown a stock market/subprime/credit meltdown a global/industry/corporate meltdown