Flat

Pronunciation

• enPR: flăt, IPA: /flæt/
• Rhymes: -æt

From Middle English flat, from Old Norse

Flat in Online Etymology Dictionary

flatr (Norwegian and Swedish flat, Danish flad), from Proto-Germanic *flataz, from Proto-Indo-European *plat- ("flat"); akin to German Flöz ("a geological layer"), Ancient Greek πλατύς, Latvian plats, Sanskrit प्रत्हस् ("extension")

Sanskrit, OHG and Greek cognates named

.

Alternative forms

• flatt, flatte obsolete

Full definition of flat

Adjective

1. Having no variations in height.
• 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 17, 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. â€¦.
2. The land around here is flat.
3. (of a tire or other inflated object) Deflated, especially because of a puncture.
4. (music, note) Lowered by one semitone.
5. (music) Of a note or voice, lower in pitch than it should be.
6. (music, voice) Without variations in pitch.
7. Of a carbonated drink, with all or most of its carbon dioxide having come out of solution so that the drink no longer fizzes or contains any bubbles.
8. Uninteresting.
   The party was a bit flat.
• ColeridgeA large part of the work is, to me, very flat.
• ShakespeareHow weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
  Seem to me all the uses of this world.
9. (wine) Lacking acidity without being sweet.
10. Absolute.
    His claim was in flat contradiction to experimental results.
    I'm not going to the party and that's flat.
11. (slang) Describing certain features, usually the breasts and/or buttocks, that are extremely small or not visible at all.
    That girl is completely flat on both sides.
12. (of a battery) Unable to emit power; dead.
13. (juggling, of a throw) Without spin; spinless.
14. Lacking liveliness of commercial exchange and dealings; depressed; dull.The market is flat.
15. (phonetics, dated, of a consonant) sonant; vocal, as distinguished from a sharp (non-sonant) consonant
16. (obsolete) Clear; unmistakable; peremptory; absolute; positive; downright.
• Shakespeareflat burglary as ever was committed
• MarstonA great tobacco taker too, — that's flat.

Synonyms

• (having no variations in altitude) even, planar, plane, smooth, uniform
• (deflated) deflated, punctured
• (without variations in pitch) monotone
• (uninteresting) boring, dull, uninteresting
• (of wine: lacking acidity) flabby

Antonyms

• (having no variations in altitude) bumpy, cratered, hilly of terrain, rough of a surface, wrinkled of a surface
• (music: lowered by one semitone) sharp
• (music: lower in pitch than it should be) sharp

Derived terms

• flatly
• flatness
• flat out
• flatten
• flat as a pancake
• flat-footed
• flat rate
• flatten
• that's flat

Adverb

1. So as to be flat.Spread the tablecloth flat over the table.
2. Bluntly.I asked him if he wanted to marry me and he turned me down flat.
3. with units of time, distance, etc Not exceeding.He can run a mile in four minutes flat.
4. Completely.I am flat broke this month.
5. Directly; flatly.
• HerbertSin is flat opposite to the Almighty.
6. (finance, slang) Without allowance for accrued interest.

Synonyms

• (so as to be flat)
• (bluntly) bluntly, curtly
• (not exceeding) tops
• (completely) absolutely, completely, utterly

Noun

1. An area of level ground.
• Francis BaconEnvy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a flat.
• 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 3, 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.
2. (music) A note played a semitone lower than a natural, denoted by the symbol ♭ sign placed after the letter representing the note (e.g., B♭) or in front of the note symbol (e.g. ♭♪).
3. (informal, automotive) A flat tyre/tire.
• 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off trackThe next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent.
4. (in the plural) A type of ladies' shoes with very low heels.
   She liked to walk in her flats more than in her high heels.
5. (painting) A thin, broad brush used in oil and watercolor/watercolour painting.
6. The flat part of something:
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.
7. A wide, shallow container.
   a flat of strawberries
8. (geometry) A subset of n-dimensional space that is congruent to a Euclidean space of lower dimension.
9. A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught.
10. A straw hat, broad-brimmed and low-crowned.
11. A railroad car without a roof, and whose body is a platform without sides; a platform car.
12. A platform on a wheel, upon which emblematic designs etc. are carried in processions.
13. (mining) A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal.
14. (obsolete) A dull fellow; a simpleton.
• HolmesOr if you cannnot make a speech,
  Because you are a flat.
15. (technical theatre) A rectangular wooden structure covered with masonite, lauan or muslin that can be raised as a platform.

Antonyms

• (note) sharp
• (shoes) high heels

Verb

1. (poker slang) To make a flat call; to call without raising.
2. (intransitive) To become flat or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface.
3. (intransitive, music, colloquial) To fall from the pitch.
4. (transitive, music) To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone.
5. (transitive, dated) To make flat; to flatten; to level.
6. (transitive, dated) To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress.
• BarrowPassions are allayed, appetites are flatted.

From 1795, alteration of Scots flet ("inner part of a house"), from Middle English flet ("dwelling"), from Old English flet, flett ("ground floor, dwelling"), from Proto-Germanic *flatjÄ… ("floor"), from Proto-Germanic *flataz ("flat"), from Proto-Indo-European *plat- ("flat"). Akin to Old Frisian flet, flette ("dwelling, house"). More at flet,

1}.

Noun

1. (chiefly British) An apartment.

Synonyms

• (apartment) apartment

Derived terms

• flatlet
• flatmate

Anagrams

• falt