Dissolve and fuse are opposites. Dissolve is for a solid to break down and lose its shape into a liquid, or for a body to be formally ended. Fuse is to join things into one by melting them together, so the seam vanishes and they become inseparable. Dissolve breaks a thing down and spreads it apart; fuse melts things into one.
One breaks a thing down and spreads it; the other melts several things into one. Dissolve, from dis- 'apart' and solvere 'to loosen', lets a solid lose its shape into a liquid, or ends a body. Fuse, from Latin fundere 'to pour, melt', joins things by melting them together until there is no seam. A sugar cube dissolves and spreads through the water; two metals fuse into one at heat. One loosens a thing apart; the other unites several into an inseparable whole.
dissolve
To dissolve is for a solid to break apart into a liquid until it disappears into it — sugar dissolves in water — or, by extension, for something to fade out or be formally ended (a marriage, a company, a parliament is dissolved). From the Latin dissolvere, 'to loosen apart', from solvere 'to loosen', the root of solve and solvent. A substance dissolves when its particles separate and spread evenly through the liquid — the reverse of what happens when droplets coalesce. Governments dissolve; tension dissolves; a crowd can dissolve into laughter.
fuse
To fuse is to join two things into one by melting them together, so completely that the boundary is gone — metals fuse under heat, and by extension genres, ideas, and cultures fuse into something new. From the Latin fundere 'to pour or melt'. The same spelling names a very different noun: a fuse is the thin wire in a circuit that melts and breaks when the current runs too high. Where two edges coalesce under heat they fuse; unlike things that merely diverge, what is fused cannot be pulled apart.
| dissolve | fuse | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | break down into liquid; formally end | join into one by melting; weld |
| Direction | one loosened apart, spread out | several into one inseparable mass |
| The result | a solution; a body gone | one seamless whole |
| Often with | sugar, parliament, a company | metals, genres, atoms, ideas |
| Noun | dissolution | fusion |
| Example | The sugar dissolved. | The metals fused. |
Ask whether a thing breaks down and spreads or melts into one. Dissolve loosens a solid apart into a liquid, or ends a body — a sugar cube clouding away in water. Fuse melts the parts together until the seam is gone — two plates welded into one. If a solid breaks down into liquid, that is dissolve; if things melt into one inseparable mass, they fuse.
dissolve
- iStir until the sugar dissolves completely.
- iiThe partnership was dissolved after thirty years.
- iiiThe tablet dissolves in a glass of water.
fuse
- iThe two metals fuse at a high enough temperature.
- iiThe band fuses jazz and folk into one sound.
- iiiIn the sun's core, hydrogen nuclei fuse into helium.
Dissolve loosens a solid apart into a liquid (or ends a body); fuse melts several things into one inseparable mass. They oppose in direction — one thing spreading apart versus several joining into one. Both can involve heat, but dissolving spreads a solid into a solvent, while fusing welds things together.
A precise pair for chemistry and physics writing. Dissolve is a solid spreading into a liquid — 'dissolve the salt', 'the tablet dissolves' — or a formal ending. Fuse is a heat-driven joining into one — 'the metals fuse', 'hydrogen fuses into helium'. Examiners reward the direction: one thing spreading apart into a solvent (dissolve) versus several melding into one (fuse). The nouns are dissolution and fusion.