melting pot

IPA/ˈmeltɪŋ pɒt/
IPA/ˈmeltɪŋ pɑːt/

melting pot — noun

1. a community or society where people from many different cultural or national bac

1.nounB2
Definition

a community or society where people from many different cultural or national backgrounds live together and blend their traditions, ideas, and ways of life

Example

Toronto is often described as a melting pot of cultures from around the world.

collocation: melting pot of + [plural noun]

The neighbourhood became a melting pot where immigrants from three continents built new lives.

used with 'become' to show change over time

Common collocations
  • melting pot of cultures
  • melting pot of languages
  • melting pot of ideas
  • cultural melting pot
  • become a melting pot
  • described as a melting pot
Synonyms
  • multicultural hub

    similar idea but emphasises activity and energy rather than blending

  • mosaic

    suggests different groups keep their distinct identities rather than blend into one

  • diverse community

    more literal and neutral; lacks the metaphorical sense of transformation

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

melting pot + of + [plural noun group]

Usage Note

Always used figuratively when referring to people and cultures. The literal meaning — a container for melting metals — is a technical term from metallurgy, not covered here.

Common Mistakes

Taipei is a melting pot food.
Taipei is a melting pot of food.
The noun requires 'of' when listing the things that are mixed.
The melting pot is boiling over in that city.
That city is a melting pot of cultures.
The expression is a noun phrase, not a cooking metaphor to extend with 'boiling' or 'stirring'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Melting pot, multicultural hub, mosaic, and diverse community all describe places with people from varied backgrounds, but they differ in how they frame the relationship among groups. Melting pot emphasises blending into a single, new whole — the ingredients lose their separate identity. Mosaic, by contrast, highlights distinct cultures coexisting side by side, each retaining its character. Multicultural hub focuses on the energy and activity generated by diversity — it implies a centre where different groups meet and interact. Diverse community is the most neutral and general term, describing any group with significant variety without implying blending or separation. For example, you might call New York City a melting pot if you focus on how immigrant groups have merged over generations, but a multicultural hub if you are describing its current cultural energy.

melting pot ↗multicultural hubmosaic ↗diverse community

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • become a melting pot
  • described as a melting pot
  • act as a melting pot

Prepositions

Etymology

EnglishEnglish (figurative extension)

The term melting pot originally referred to a metal container used for melting ores and metals. Its figurative use — describing a society where different cultures blend into one — became popular in the early 1900s, especially after Israel Zangwill's 1908 play 'The Melting Pot', which portrayed the United States as a place where immigrants from all over the world merged into a single American identity.

First known use

1887

1887, in the meaning defined at sense 1a