flat

Having no variations in height.

Adjective

  1. Having no variations in height.
    • The land around here is flat.

    1. In a horizontal line or plane; not sloping.

      • a flat roof

    2. Smooth; having no protrusions, indentations or other surface irregularities, or relatively so.

      • The surface of the mirror must be completely flat.
      • The carpet isn't properly flat in that corner.
      • She has quite a flat face.

    3. (slang) Having small or invisible breasts and/or buttocks.

      • Near-synonym: flat-chested
      • That girl is completely flat on both sides.
  2. Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc.
    • The exchange rate has been flat for several weeks.

    1. At a consistently depressed level; consistently lacklustre.

      • Sales have been flat all year, and we've barely broken even.

    2. (not comparable, commerce) Of fees, fares etc., fixed; unvarying.

      • a flat fee
      • flat rates
      • a flat fare on public transport

    3. (music, voice) Without variations in pitch.

      • He delivered the speech in a flat tone.

    4. (phonetics, of a vowel) Not diphthongal; without variation in height or backness.

    5. (of colours) Without variation in tone or hue (uniform), and dull (not glossy).

      • The walls were painted a flat gray.

      Synonyms: matte

  3. Lacking liveliness or action; depressed; uninteresting; dull and boring.
    • The party was a bit flat.
    • The market is flat today as most traders are on holiday.
    • The dialogue in your screenplay is flat — you need to make it more exciting.

    1. (authorship, figuratively, especially of a character) Lacking in depth, substance, or believability; underdeveloped; one-dimensional.

      • The author added a chapter to flesh out the book's flatter characters.

      Antonyms: round

  4. Lowered by one semitone.
  5. Of a note or voice, lower in pitch than it should be.
    • Your A string is flat.
  6. Absolute; downright; peremptory.
    • His claim was in flat contradiction to experimental results.
    • I'm not going to the party and that's flat.
    • Wag[ner]. Vilaine, call me Maiſter Wagner, and let thy left eye be diametarily fixt vpon my right heele, with quaſi veſtigias nostras inſistere [as if to follow in our footsteps]. / Clo[wn]: God forgiue me, he ſpeakes...
  7. Deflated, especially because of a puncture.
  8. With all or most of its carbon dioxide having come out of solution so that the drink no longer fizzes or contains any bubbles.
  9. Lacking acidity without being sweet.
  10. Unable to emit power; dead.
  11. Without spin; spinless.
  12. Sonant; vocal, as distinguished from a sharp (non-sonant) consonant.

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *flataz Old Norse flatrbor. Middle English flat English flat From Middle English flat, a borrowing from Old Norse flatr (compare Norwegian and Swedish flat, Danish flad), from Proto-Germanic *flataz, from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat”); akin to Saterland Frisian flot (“smooth”), German Flöz (“a geological layer”), Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), Latvian plats, Sanskrit प्रथस् (prathas, “extension”). Doublet of plat and pleyt. The noun is from Middle English flat (“level piece of ground, flat edge of a weapon”), from the adjective. The algebraic sense was coined by Serre in a 1956 paper, originally as French plat.

Forms

flatter flattest flatt flatte

Synonyms

even planar plane smooth uniform monotone boring dull uninteresting deflated puncture still unfizzy flabby

Antonyms

bumpy cratered hilly rough wrinkled sharp

Derived

absolutely flat A-flat aflat Allans Flat and that's flat Apple Tree Flat Appletree Flat Barker Creek Flat B-flat Biggs Flat Blackmans Flat Burkes Flat Busbys Flat Caffreys Flat Captains Flat C-flat Chambers Flat Chapel Flat Clover Flat Commissioners Flat Cow Flat Cundle Flat Dairy Flat D-flat

Adverb

  1. So as to be flat.
    • Spread the tablecloth flat over the table.
  2. Completely, firmly, or unequivocally.
    • I asked him if he wanted to marry me and he turned me down flat.
    • "You'll understand this flat, I won't be fooled about by you any longer." - 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 63:
  3. Exactly, precisely.
    • In the mile race, Smith's time was 3:58.56, and Brown's was four minutes flat.
    • Dan Patch clocked a scorching 1:55.5 flat. - 1996, Jon Byrell, Lairs, Urgers and Coat-Tuggers, Sydney: Ironbark, page 186:
    • I play doctor for five minutes flat Before I cut my heart open and let the air out - 1997, “Scissors”, performed by Slipknot:
  4. Used to emphasize the smallness of the measurement.
    • He can run a mile in four minutes flat.
    • Found my coat and grabbed my hat / Made the bus in seconds flat - 1967, Lennon–McCartney, “A Day in the Life”, in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band:
  5. Without parole.
    • The recent case in Dallas where two gay males were killed by an 18 yr old straight kid is a perfect example of what gays in this state face. The kid got 30 yrs (he'll do 3 or 4 yrs and be paroled) yet I must do 12 years...
  6. Completely.
    • I am flat broke this month.
  7. Directly; flatly.
    • Sin is flat opposite to the Almighty. - [1633], George Herbert, edited by [Nicholas Ferrar], The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be...
  8. Without allowance for accrued interest.
    • The bonds are trading flat.

Forms

more flat most flat

Synonyms

bluntly curtly tops absolutely completely utterly

Derived

flat chat flat out flat signed flat strap four flat in nothing flat

Noun Entry 3

  1. An area of level ground (sometimes covered with shallow or tidal water).
    • The hovercraft skimmed across the open flats.
    • the eastern end of the salt flat; mud flat, tidal flat, flood flat
    • Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a flat. - 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Envy”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

    1. (in the phrase 'the flat') Level ground in general.

      • I can run on the flat but not up hills.
      • The going will be easier once we're through these mountains and onto the flat.
      • "Indeed it's troubling you too much, Sir!" the maid exclaimed. "She can walk very well on the flat." - 1889, Lewis Carroll, Sylvie and Bruno:

    2. (horse racing, with 'the' or attributively, sometimes with capital) Level horse-racing ground, as contrasted with courses incorporating jumps, or the racing done on such ground.

      • This horse will do better over the flat.
      • flat racing, the flat season
      • In light of Horse Racing Ireland's Covid-19 contingency plan announcement, that whenever racing resumes the Flat will be given priority, Elliott has decided to keep a number of talented jumpers on the go during the...

    3. (Australia, horse racing, with 'the' or attributively, sometimes with capital) the area in the centre of a racecourse.

      • As forecast, Joe suspected nothing as he pottered round the flat in the sunshine, absorbed in the task of picking winners. - 1963, George Blaikie, Scandals of Australia's Strange Past, Adelaide: Rigby Limited, page 117:

    4. (American football) The areas behind the line of scrimmage to either side of an offensive football formation.

  2. A note played one chromatic semitone lower than a natural, denoted by the symbol ♭ placed after the letter representing the note (e.g., B♭) or in front of the note symbol (e.g. ♭♪).
    • The key of E♭ has three flats.
  3. A flat tyre/flat tire.
    • The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent. - 2012 July 15, Richard Williams, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track,...
  4. A type of ladies' shoe with a very low heel.
    • She liked to walk in her flats more than in her high heels.
  5. A type of flat-soled running shoe without spikes.
  6. A thin, broad brush used in oil and watercolour painting.
  7. The most prominent flat part of something.
    • The outboard bales in each tier should be placed on their edges so that their flats will be presented to the sweat battens. This precaution is necessary to lessen the damage in case of chafage. If the bales chafe or...

    1. (swordfighting) The flat side of a blade, as opposed to the sharp edge.

    2. The palm of the hand, with the adjacent part of the fingers.

  8. A wide, shallow container or pallet.
    • a flat of strawberries
  9. Ellipsis of flat water (“nonfizzy drinking water”).
    • Waiter: Would you like sparkling or flat? Guest: Flat, thank you.
  10. A large mail piece measuring at least 8 1/2 by 11 inches, such as catalogs, magazines, and unfolded paper enclosed in large envelopes.
  11. A railroad car without a roof, and whose body is a platform without sides; a platform car or flatcar.
    • For example, when trailers containing new automobiles were first piggybacked two areas of potential damage became evident: (1) diesel locomotive exhaust left a film of oil on the new autos; and (2) auto windshields...
  12. A flat spot on the wheel of a rail vehicle.
    • The tender roared along vibrating vigorously; braking had resulted in "flats" on most of its tyres. - 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 706:

Forms

flats

Antonyms

sharp high heels

Derived

alkali flat Ash Flat ballet flat Broadway flat Captains Flat container flat dead flat demiflat double flat dusk-flat false flat flat joint flat lad flat passer flat store Halls Flat Hollywood flat Hollywood-style flat mahogany flat mudflat mud flat on the flat optical flat salt flat

Noun Australia, India

  1. A complete domicile occupying only part of a building, especially one for rent
    • The excellence of French flats is so well known in America, that the owner will often refer to his property as "first class French flats." - 1905, Sydney Perks, Residential flats of all classes, including artisans'...
    • A kiss may be grand but it won’t pay the rental on your humble flat or help you at the automat. - 1953 January 1, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”, in My Heart Belongs to Daddy, performed by Marilyn Monroe:
    • [NICELY]When you meet a gent paying all kinds of rent for a flat that could flatten the Taj Mahal. [BOTH]Call it sad, call it funny but it’s better than even money that the guy’s only doing it for some doll. - 1955...

    Synonyms: apartment

Origin

From an alteration (due to Scots flatt (“a level part of a structure”)) of Scots flet, flett (“inner part of a house”), from Middle English flet (“dwelling”), from Old English flet, flett (“ground floor, dwelling”), from Proto-West Germanic *flati, from Proto-Germanic *flatją (“floor”), from Proto-Germanic *flataz (“flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat”). Akin to Old Frisian flet, flette (“dwelling, house”). More at flet, flat₁.

Forms

flats

Derived

bachelor flat block of flats BTO flat coldwater flat flatblock flatdom flatette flathouse flatless flatlet flatmate flatshare flatsharer flatsharing flattage flatter flat-warming granny flat microflat nanoflat show flat studio flat

Verb card games, poker

  1. To make a flat call; to call without raising.
  2. To become flat or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface.
  3. To fall from the pitch.
  4. To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone.
  5. To make flat; to flatten; to level.
    • And thus thoſe Forts vvhich vvere erected to defend the Crovvne, firſt offended the King, ſome fevv vvhereof as he recouered, he flatted to the ground, and vviſhed the other no higher vvalls; ſtill ſvvearing by Gods...
    • The pods, which seldom contain less than thirty nuts of the size of a flatted olive, grow upon the stem and principal branches. - 1764, James Granger, The Sugar-Cane: a Poem. In Four Books. With Notes., M.D., Book 1,...
  6. To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress.
    • Passions are allayed, appetites are flatted. - a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII),...

Forms

flats flatting flatted

Derived

flat down

Verb obsolete, transitive

  1. To beat or strike; pound
  2. To dash or throw
  3. To dash, rush

Origin

From Middle English flatten, from Old French flatir (“to knock or strike down, dash”), from Frankish *flattjan (“to move the palm of the hand”), from Proto-Germanic *flatjaną (“to make flat, flatten”).

Forms

flats flatting flatted

Derived

flatter