Meaning & use
melting pot
Last updated
Meanings
nounsingularfigurative
A place where people from many backgrounds and cultures live together and gradually blend.
Grammar: Usually singular with a: a melting pot of cultures.
Patterns
- a melting pot of something
New York is often described as a melting pot of cultures.
The school is a melting pot of languages.
Immigrants made the city a lively melting pot.
nouncountabletechnical
A container in which metals or other materials are melted, or a mixture of different things.
Grammar: The original sense of the pot used for melting.
Patterns
- in the melting pot
Silver was poured into the melting pot.
The artist uses an old melting pot for glass.
Ideas from many traditions went into the melting pot.
Word forms
| plural | melting pots |
|---|
Common combinations
- a melting pot of cultures
- The city is a melting pot of cultures.
- cultural melting pot
- London is a cultural melting pot.
- ethnic melting pot
- The region became an ethnic melting pot.
- in the melting pot
- New plans are in the melting pot.
- great melting pot
- America is a great melting pot.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mosaic
- Mosaic suggests cultures staying distinct, while melting pot suggests blending.
- salad bowl
- Salad bowl is the contrasting image of cultures kept apart.
- crucible
- Crucible is a more literary word for a place of intense change.
- mix
- Mix is the everyday word, with no sense of blending into one.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: melting pot or melting point?
melting pot vs melting point
Melting point is the temperature at which a solid melts, not a place.
Practice
The city is a ___ with residents from over a hundred countries.
Choose one answer.
A melting pot is a place where many cultures mix. The other pots are literal containers.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “melting pot”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.