List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 236

SYNONYMS: melt, fuse, liquefy, thaw.
These verbs mean to change or cause to change into a liquid.

Melt implies liquefaction caused principally by heat: The candle softened and melted in the sun. I melted the butter in a saucepan. Figuratively the term suggests gradual dispersion, dissipation, and disappearance: They melt like mist, the solid lands. The usual reserve of their manner has melted away. Melt can also mean to become softened in feeling, as through pity, sympathy, or love: His heart melted at the sight of the injured child.
Fuse primarily suggests the union of different constituents, such as two minerals, by or as if by heating: It is the faith--- that is emotionally fused with national pride.
Liquefy, unlike the other terms in this group, is restricted to physical processes but is used of both gases and solids: a process that is used to liquefy nitrogen.
Thaw applies to the partial or complete melting of something, such as ice, that is frozen; figuratively it suggests the softening or dissolution of something, as of formality or reserve, likened to a frozen substance: Her warm smile would thaw the most hardened heart.