Pronunciations (3)
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/ˈflæt/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
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/ˈflat/
Pronunciation notes
- British
- Northern-England
- Scotland
- Southern
- Standard
- Wales
-
/ˈflɛt/
Pronunciation notes
- New-Zealand
Adjective
Having no variations in height.
- Examples
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The land around here is flat.
Having no variations in height. In a horizontal line or plane; not sloping.
- Examples
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a flat roof
Having no variations in height. Smooth; having no protrusions, indentations or other surface irregularities, or relatively so.
- Examples
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The surface of the mirror must be completely flat.
The carpet isn't properly flat in that corner.
More examples (3)
She has quite a flat face.
The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].
This early slowdown is one piece of a broader evolutionary trend known as gracilization, the tendency for modern humans to become more delicate in form. Our bones are thinner, our muscles smaller, and our faces flatter than those of earlier hominins.
Having no variations in height. Having small or invisible breasts and/or buttocks.
Usage- Slang
- Examples
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Near-synonym: flat-chested
That girl is completely flat on both sides.
Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc.
- Examples
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The exchange rate has been flat for several weeks.
Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc. At a consistently depressed level; consistently lacklustre.
- Examples
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Sales have been flat all year, and we've barely broken even.
Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc. Of fees, fares etc., fixed; unvarying.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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a flat fee
flat rates
More examples (1)
a flat fare on public transport
Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc. Without variations in pitch.
- Examples
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He delivered the speech in a flat tone.
Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc. Not diphthongal; without variation in height or backness.
Usage- of a vowel
Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc. Without variation in tone or hue (uniform), and dull (not glossy).
Usage- of colours
- Synonyms
- Examples
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The walls were painted a flat gray.
Lacking liveliness or action; depressed; uninteresting; dull and boring.
Usage- Figurative
- Examples
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The party was a bit flat.
The market is flat today as most traders are on holiday.
More examples (3)
The dialogue in your screenplay is flat — you need to make it more exciting.
February 16, 1833, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk A large part of the work is, to me, very flat.
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world.
Lacking liveliness or action; depressed; uninteresting; dull and boring. Lacking in depth, substance, or believability; underdeveloped; one-dimensional.
Usage- especially
- Figurative
- of a character
- Antonyms
- Examples
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The author added a chapter to flesh out the book's flatter characters.
Lowered by one semitone.
Of a note or voice, lower in pitch than it should be.
- Examples
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Your A string is flat.
Absolute; downright; peremptory.
- Examples
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His claim was in flat contradiction to experimental results.
I'm not going to the party and that's flat.
More examples (3)
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 Dutch fuſtian: / well, Ile folow him, Ile ſerue him, thats flat.
SECOND WATCH. Marry, that he had received a thousand ducats of Don John for accusing the Lady Hero wrongfully. DOGBERRY. Flat burglary as ever was committed
A great Tobacco taker too, thats flat.
Deflated, especially because of a puncture.
Usage- of a tire or other inflated object
With all or most of its carbon dioxide having come out of solution so that the drink no longer fizzes or contains any bubbles.
Usage- of a carbonated drink
Lacking acidity without being sweet.
Unable to emit power; dead.
Usage- of a battery
Without spin; spinless.
Usage- of a throw
Sonant; vocal, as distinguished from a sharp (non-sonant) consonant.
Usage- Dated
- of a consonant
Not having an inflectional ending or sign, such as a noun used as an adjective, or an adjective as an adverb, without the addition of a formative suffix; or an infinitive without the sign "to".
- Examples
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Many flat adverbs, as in 'run fast', 'buy cheap', etc. are from Old English.
Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft.
Usage- of a golf club
Flattening at the ends.
Usage- of certain fruits
Exact.
Usage- of measurements of time
- Examples
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He finished the race in a flat four minutes.
Such that the tensor product preserves exact sequences. See Flat module on Wikipedia.Wikipedia.
Usage- of a module
Such that its target, regarded as a module over its source, is flat (as above).
Usage- of a ring homomorphism
Such that the induced map on every stalk is flat (as a map of rings).
Usage- of a morphism of schemes
- Narrower terms
Having little froth and little milk.
Usage- of coffee
Foolish; simple-minded.
Usage- UK usage
- Obsolete
- Slang
- Examples
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We either burns the old brooms, or, if we can, we sells ’em for a ha’penny to some other boy, if he’s flat enough to buy ’em.
Adverb
So as to be flat.
- Examples
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Spread the tablecloth flat over the table.
Completely, firmly, or unequivocally.
- Examples
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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."
Exactly; precisely.
Usage- of accurately measured timings
- Examples
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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.
More examples (1)
I play doctor for five minutes flat Before I cut my heart open and let the air out
Used to emphasize the smallness of the measurement.
Usage- with units of time
- Examples
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He can run a mile in four minutes flat.
Found my coat and grabbed my hat / Made the bus in seconds flat
Without parole.
Usage- of a sentence
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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 flat for a robbery in which no one was hurt.
Completely.
- Examples
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I am flat broke this month.
Directly; flatly.
- Examples
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Sin is flat opposite to the Almighty.
Without allowance for accrued interest.
- Examples
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The bonds are trading flat.
Flat out (at top speed).
- Examples
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In the dry, the racing cars can take the corner flat.
Noun
An area of level ground (sometimes covered with shallow or tidal water).
- Examples
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The hovercraft skimmed across the open flats.
the eastern end of the salt flat; mud flat, tidal flat, flood flat
More examples (2)
Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a flat.
My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.
An area of level ground (sometimes covered with shallow or tidal water). Level ground in general.
Usage- in the phrase 'the flat'
- Examples
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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.
More examples (1)
"Indeed it's troubling you too much, Sir!" the maid exclaimed. "She can walk very well on the flat."
An area of level ground (sometimes covered with shallow or tidal water). Level horse-racing ground, as contrasted with courses incorporating jumps, or the racing done on such ground.
Usage- sometimes
- with 'the' or attributively
- with capital
- Examples
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This horse will do better over the flat.
flat racing, the flat season
More examples (2)
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 summer, with a view towards a dual-purpose campaign.
2021 (retrieved), racing365.com, "Flat Racing Explained" In British horse racing, the classics are a series of horse races run over the flat (i.e. without jumps).
An area of level ground (sometimes covered with shallow or tidal water). the area in the centre of a racecourse.
Usage- Australia
- sometimes
- with 'the' or attributively
- with capital
- Examples
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As forecast, Joe suspected nothing as he pottered round the flat in the sunshine, absorbed in the task of picking winners.
An area of level ground (sometimes covered with shallow or tidal water). The areas behind the line of scrimmage to either side of an offensive football formation.
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. ♭♪).
- Examples
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The key of E♭ has three flats.
A flat tyre/flat tire.
Usage- Informal
- Examples
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The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent.
A type of ladies' shoe with a very low heel.
Usage- in-plural
- Examples
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She liked to walk in her flats more than in her high heels.
A type of flat-soled running shoe without spikes.
Usage- in-plural
A thin, broad brush used in oil and watercolour painting.
The most prominent flat part of something.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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 become wet on their flats, only one or two layers will be damaged.
The most prominent flat part of something. The flat side of a blade, as opposed to the sharp edge.
The most prominent flat part of something. The palm of the hand, with the adjacent part of the fingers.
A wide, shallow container or pallet.
- Examples
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a flat of strawberries
In mild areas, start sowing seeds in pots and flats for later transplanting.
A large mail piece measuring at least 8 1/2 by 11 inches, such as catalogs, magazines, and unfolded paper enclosed in large envelopes.
A railroad car without a roof, and whose body is a platform without sides; a platform car or flatcar.
Usage- US usage
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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 could be scarred or cracked by the metal-tipped "tell-tales" which warn men atop trains of oncoming bridges or tunnels. Accordingly, automobiles aboard piggyback flats are usually coupled into the train 15 or more cars behind the locomotive; and telltales have been raised.
A flat spot on the wheel of a rail vehicle.
- Examples
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The tender roared along vibrating vigorously; braking had resulted in "flats" on most of its tyres.
A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught.
A subset of n-dimensional space that is congruent to a Euclidean space of lower dimension.
A straw hat, broad-brimmed and low-crowned.
A flat sheet for use on a bed.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
You might think that Americans buy roughly the same number of fitted sheets as flats. Or, considering the market for electric blankets, duvets, and other covers, that consumers buy even more bottom sheets, simply forgoing the tops.
A flat, glossy children's book with few pages.
- Examples
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This same publisher notes pricing is a crucial factor in the mass market field of $1, $1.95 and $2.95 "flats."
A platform on a wheel, upon which emblematic designs etc. are carried in processions.
A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal.
A rectangular wooden structure covered with masonite, lauan, or muslin, often produced in standard modules, that is used to build wall surfaces on stage. Flats can be painted and outfitted with doors and/or windows to depict a building or other part of a scene, and are a hard-surfaced alternative to a backcloth or backdrop.
Any of various hesperiid butterflies that spread their wings open when they land.
An early kind of toy soldier having a flat design.
Usage- Historical
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Among the many US museums hosting flats, we may mention the Toy Soldier Museum in the Pocono Mountains, supervised by the historian, collector and dealer J. Hillestad.
A dull fellow; a simpleton.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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[…] if you cannot make a speech, Because you are a flat, Go very quietly and drop A button in the hat!
"He fancies he can play at billiards," said he. "I won two hundred of him at the Cocoa-Tree. HE play, the young flat! […]"
More examples (2)
“But,” said I, “you said the other day, that you liked the fair thing.” “That was by way of gammon,” said the landlord; “just, do you see, as a Parliament cove might say speechifying from a barrel to a set of flats, whom he means to sell. Come, what do you think of the plan?”
"She can indeed walk very well on the flat," I said. "And I think I was the Flat."
A flat (i.e. plane) mirror
- Examples
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"When sampling the aperture of a telescope, using auto-collimating flats (ACFs) is more economical"
A cheater's die with the edges shaved to make certain rolls more likely.
Usage- Slang
- Examples
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More examples (1)
He would slip in his six-ace flats, shaved dice that were made to bring up sevens. He'd throw them just long enough to get well, and then replace them with legitimate cubes.
A 24-case of beer.
Usage- British-Columbia
- Canadian-Prairies
Verb
To make a flat call; to call without raising.
Usage- Slang
To become flat or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface.
Usage- Intransitive
To fall from the pitch.
Usage- Colloquial
- Intransitive
To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone.
Usage- Transitive
To make flat; to flatten; to level.
Usage- Dated
- Transitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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 Birth (his vſuall Oath) hee vvould not ſlightly bee vnſeated of his Crovvne, and vvondring vvhat ſhould mooue them, vvho had ſo readilie aduanced him, ſo ſpeedily to vnſtate him.
The pods, which seldom contain less than thirty nuts of the size of a flatted olive, grow upon the stem and principal branches.
To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress.
Usage- Dated
- Transitive
- Examples
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Passions are allayed, appetites are flatted.
Noun
A complete domicile occupying only part of a building, especially one for rent
Usage- Australia
- India
- New-England
- New-Zealand
- Singapore
- South-Africa
- UK usage
- dialectal
- Examples
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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."
A kiss may be grand but it won’t pay the rental on your humble flat or help you at the automat.
More examples (5)
[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.
Fifteen percent of this group said that they were not satisfied with the public housing estates and their HDB^([Singapore Housing & Development Board]) flats (see Tables 11 and 12 respectively).
The Greater London Council formed the Estmanco company to manage a block of 60 council-owned flats. The council entered into an agreement with the company to sell off the flats to owner-occupiers.
When the Dolphin Square's flats were first offered to the public in 1936, the South Block was still under construction, and the North Block was a building site.
Of course, closure of the West station took away the hotel's raison d'être. In May 2012, the local newspaper reported that this historic hotel, by then rated the town's worst (exemplified by its final review: "Please avoid at all costs"), was to be converted into 31 first-time-buyer one-bedroom flats.
Verb
To beat or strike; pound
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
To dash or throw
Usage- Transitive
To dash, rush
Usage- Intransitive
Adjective
having a surface without slope, tilt in which no part is higher or lower than another
- Examples
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a flat desk
acres of level farmland
More examples (2)
a plane surface
skirts sewn with fine flat seams
having a relatively broad surface in relation to depth or thickness
- Examples
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flat computer monitors
not modified or restricted by reservations
- Examples
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a categorical denial
a flat refusal
stretched out and lying at full length along the ground
- Synonyms
- Examples
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found himself lying flat on the floor
lacking contrast or shading between tones
- Antonyms
(of a musical note) lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitone
- Examples
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B flat
flattened laterally along the whole length (e.g., certain leafstalks or flatfishes)
- Synonyms
lacking taste or flavor or tang
- Examples
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a bland diet
insipid hospital food
More examples (3)
flavorless supermarket tomatoes
vapid beer
vapid tea
lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a bland little drama
a flat joke
having lost effervescence
- Examples
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flat beer
a flat cola
sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch
- Synonyms
- Examples
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the owl's faint monotonous hooting
horizontally level
- Examples
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a flat roof
lacking the expected range or depth; not designed to give an illusion or depth
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a film with two-dimensional characters
a flat two-dimensional painting
not reflecting light; not glossy
- Examples
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flat wall paint
a photograph with a matte finish
commercially inactive
- Examples
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flat sales for the month
prices remained flat
More examples (1)
a flat market
Noun
a level tract of land
- Examples
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the salt flats of Utah
a shallow box in which seedlings are started
- Broader terms
a musical notation indicating one half step lower than the note named
- Broader terms
freight car without permanent sides or roof
- Broader terms
a deflated pneumatic tire
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
scenery consisting of a wooden frame covered with painted canvas; part of a stage setting
a suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment house
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
Adverb
with flat sails
- Examples
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sail flat against the wind
in a forthright manner; candidly or frankly
- Examples
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he didn't answer directly
told me straight out
More examples (1)
came out flat for less work and more pay