flat

[ flat ]

/ flæt /

adjective, flat·ter, flat·test.

horizontally level: a flat roof.

level, even, or without unevenness of surface, as land or tabletops.

having a surface that is without marked projections or depressions: a broad, flat face.

lying horizontally and at full length, as a person; prostrate: He was flat on the canvas after the knockdown.

lying wholly on or against something: The banner was flat against the wall.

thrown down, laid low, or level with the ground, as fallen trees or buildings.

having a generally level shape or appearance; not deep or thick: a flat plate.

(of the heel of a shoe) low and broad.

spread out, as an unrolled map or the open hand.

deflated; collapsed: a flat tire.

absolute, downright, or positive; without qualification: a flat denial.

without modification or variation: a flat rate.

Informal. lacking money; broke.

without vitality or animation; lifeless; dull: flat writing.

having lost its flavor, sharpness, or life, as wine or food; stale.

(of a beverage) having lost its effervescence.

without flavor; not spiced: flat cooking.

prosaic, banal, or insipid: a flat style.

pointless, as a remark or joke.

commercially inactive: a flat day in the stock market.

(of a painting) not having the illusion of volume or depth.

(of a photograph or painting) lacking contrast or gradations of tone or color.

(of paint) without gloss; not shiny; mat.

not clear, sharp, or ringing, as sound or a voice.

lacking resonance and variation in pitch; monotonous: a flat delivery of the speech.

Music.

(of a tone) lowered a half step in pitch: B flat.
below an intended pitch, as a note; too low (opposed to sharp).

Grammar. derived without change in form, as English to brush from the noun brush and adverbs that do not add -ly to the adjective form as fast, cheap, and slow.

Phonetics. lenis; voiced.

Nautical. (of a sail)

cut with little or no fullness.
trimmed as nearly fore-and-aft as possible, for sailing to windward.

flat a, the a-sound (a) of glad, bat, or act.

noun

something flat.

a shoe, especially a woman's shoe, with a flat heel or no heel.

a flat surface, side, or part of anything: He struck me with the flat of his hand.

flat or level ground; a flat area: salt flats.

a marsh, shoal, or shallow.

Music.

(in musical notation) the character ♭, which when attached to a note or to a staff degree lowers its significance one chromatic half step.
a tone one chromatic half step below another: The flat of B is B flat.
(on keyboard instruments, with reference to any given note) the key next below or to the left.

Theater. a piece of scenery consisting of a wooden frame, usually rectangular, covered with lightweight board or fabric.

a broad, thin book, chiefly for children: a juvenile flat.

Informal. a deflated automobile tire.

(in postal use) a large flat package, as in a manila envelope, for mailing.

Architecture. a flat roof or deck.

Nautical.

Also called platform. a partial deck between two full decks.
a low, flat barge or lighter.

Shipbuilding.

a broad, flat piece of iron or steel for overlapping and joining two plates at their edges.
a straight timber in a frame or other assembly of generally curved timbers.

an iron or steel bar of rectangular cross section.

Textiles. one of a series of laths covered with card clothing, used in conjunction with the cylinder in carding.

Photography. one or more negatives or positives in position to be reproduced.

Printing. a device for holding a negative or positive flat for reproduction by photoengraving.

Horticulture. a shallow, lidless box or tray used for rooting seeds and cuttings and for growing young plants.

a similar box used for shipping and selling fruits and vegetables.

Football. the area of the field immediately inside of or outside of an offensive end, close behind or at the line of scrimmage.

flats, Informal. flat races between horses. Compare flat race.

verb (used with object), flat·ted, flat·ting.

to make flat.

Music. to lower (a pitch), especially one half step.

verb (used without object), flat·ted, flat·ting.

to become flat.

adverb

in a flat position; horizontally; levelly.

in a flat manner; positively; absolutely.

completely; utterly: flat broke.

exactly; precisely: She ran around the track in two minutes flat.

Music. below the true pitch: to sing flat.

Finance. without interest.

Verb Phrases

flat in, Nautical. to pull the clew of (a fore-and-aft sail) as nearly amidships as possible. Also flatten in.

Idioms for flat

fall flat, to fail to produce the desired effect; fail completely: His attempts at humor fell flat.

flat aft, Nautical. trimmed so that fore-and-aft sails present as flat a surface as possible, as in sailing close to the wind.

flat on one's back. back¹(def 47).

flat out, Informal.

without hesitation; directly or openly: He told us flat out he'd been a double agent.
at full speed or with maximum effort.

Origin of flat

1275–1325; Middle English < Old Norse flatr, akin to Old English flet (see flat²), Greek platýs (see platy-, plate¹

SYNONYMS FOR flat

1 plane. See level.

4 low, prone.

11 outright, peremptory, categorical.

14 boring, spiritless, prosaic.

17 vapid, unsavory.

ANTONYMS FOR flat

1, 4 upright, vertical.

14 spirited.

17 savory.

OTHER WORDS FROM flat

flat·ly, adverb flat·ness, noun un·flat·ted, adjective

Words nearby flat

flashpacker, flashtube, flashy, flask, flasket, flat, flat arch, flat as a pancake, flat back, flat bond, flat bone

Definition for flats (2 of 2)

flat ²

[ flat ]

/ flæt /

noun

Chiefly British. an apartment or suite of rooms on one floor forming a residence.

Origin of flat

1795–1805; variant of obsolete flet, Old English: floor, house, hall; akin to flat¹

Example sentences from the Web for flats

One that they cannot cash in at the bank to pay for their flats.

One Vogue Cover Doesn’t Solve Fashion’s Big Race Problem |Danielle Belton |January 2, 2015 |DAILY BEAST
Real estate was a hot investment for the moneyed of China, but as the market cooled down in many cities, flats were left empty.

China’s Concubine Culture Lives On in Mistress Villages |Brendon Hong |April 14, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Feather had recorded as a pianist, and although he would never put Oscar Peterson out of business, he knew his sharps and flats.

Music Criticism Has Degenerated Into Lifestyle Reporting |Ted Gioia |March 18, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The wounded warrior in front of me rode so well, and so fast, dusting me in the flats, that for a while I forgot he was a veteran.

At the Wounded Warrior 100K, How George W. Bush Really Rolls |Mark McKinnon |May 26, 2013 |DAILY BEAST

I shuffle through the sheet music, avoiding tunes in keys with more than two sharps or flats, until I hit on “Old Shanghai.”

Beck’s Album ‘Song Reader’ Is All Sheet Music. We Take It for a Spin |Malcolm Jones |December 29, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
When people live in flats, it is essential that they show some consideration for their neighbours.

The Lady of the Basement Flat |Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
The barn that had been set on fire stood on the flats, below the cliff, and fully half a mile away from the Nest.

The Chainbearer |J. Fenimore Cooper
In the first place, there are in all large towns almost enough empty houses and flats to lodge all the inhabitants of the slums.

The Conquest of Bread |Peter Kropotkin
But no darter of mine should go out past the flats in one of 'em if I had the say.

The Rise of Roscoe Paine |Joseph C. Lincoln
A “chromatic scale” is thus a series of semi-tones, and is commonly written with sharps in ascending and flats descending.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 3 |Various

British Dictionary definitions for flats (1 of 3)

flats

flatties (ˈflætɪz)

/ (flæts) /

pl n

shoes with flat heels or no heels

British Dictionary definitions for flats (2 of 3)

flat ¹

/ (flæt) /

adjective flatter or flattest

horizontal; level flat ground; a flat roof

even or smooth, without projections or depressions a flat surface

lying stretched out at full length; prostrate he lay flat on the ground

having little depth or thickness; shallow a flat dish

(postpositive often foll by against) having a surface or side in complete contact with another surface flat against the wall

spread out, unrolled, or levelled

(of a tyre) deflated, either partially or completely

(of shoes) having an unraised or only slightly raised heel

mainly British

(of races, racetracks, or racecourses) not having obstacles to be jumped
of, relating to, or connected with flat racing as opposed to steeplechasing and hurdlingflat jockeys earn more

without qualification; total a flat denial

without possibility of change; fixed a flat rate

(prenominal or immediately postpositive) neither more nor less; exact he did the journey in thirty minutes flat; a flat thirty minutes

unexciting or lacking point or interest a flat joke

without variation or resonance; monotonous a flat voice

(of food) stale or tasteless

(of beer, sparkling wines, etc) having lost effervescence, as by exposure to air

(of trade, business, a market, etc) commercially inactive; sluggish

(of a battery) fully discharged; dead

(of a print, photograph, or painting) lacking contrast or shading between tones

(of paint) without gloss or lustre; matt

(of a painting) lacking perspective

(of lighting) diffuse

music

(immediately postpositive) denoting a note of a given letter name (or the sound it represents) that has been lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitoneB flat
(of an instrument, voice, etc) out of tune by being too low in pitchCompare sharp (def. 12)

phonetics another word for lenis

flat a phonetics the vowel sound of a as in the usual US or S Brit pronunciation of hand, cat, usually represented by the symbol (æ)

adverb

in or into a prostrate, level, or flat state or position he held his hand out flat

completely or utterly; absolutely he went flat against the rules

exactly; precisely in three minutes flat

music

lower than a standard pitch
too low in pitchshe sings flat Compare sharp (def. 18)

fall flat to fail to achieve a desired effect, etc

flat out informal

with the maximum speed or effort
totally exhausted

noun

a flat object, surface, or part

(often plural) a low-lying tract of land, esp a marsh or swamp

(often plural) a mud bank exposed at low tide

music

an accidental that lowers the pitch of the following note by one chromatic semitoneUsual symbol: ♭
a note affected by this accidentalCompare sharp (def. 19)

theatre a rectangular wooden frame covered with painted canvas, etc, used to form part of a stage setting

a punctured car tyre

the flat mainly British ((often cap.))

flat racing, esp as opposed to steeplechasing and hurdling
the season of flat racing

nautical a flatboat or lighter

US and Canadian a shallow box or container, used for holding plants, growing seedlings, etc

verb flats, flatting or flatted

to make or become flat

music the usual US word for flatten (def. 3)

Derived forms of flat

flatly, adverb flatness, noun

Word Origin for flat

C14: from Old Norse flatr; related to Old High German flaz flat, Greek platus flat, broad

British Dictionary definitions for flats (3 of 3)

flat ²

/ (flæt) /

noun

a set of rooms comprising a residence entirely on one floor of a building Usual US and Canadian name: apartment

British and NZ a portion of a house used as separate living quarters

NZ a house shared with people who are not members of one's own family

verb flats, flatting or flatted (intr)

Australian and NZ to live in a flat (with someone)

Word Origin for flat

Old English flett floor, hall, house; related to flat 1

Idioms and Phrases with flats

flat

In addition to the idioms beginning with flat

flat as a pancake
flat broke
flat on one's back
flat out

also see:

caught flat-footed
fall flat
in no time (nothing flat)
leave flat

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

flat

adjective, flat·ter, flat·test.

noun

verb (used with object), flat·ted, flat·ting.

verb (used without object), flat·ted, flat·ting.

adverb

Verb Phrases

Idioms for flat

Origin of flat

SYNONYMS FOR flat

ANTONYMS FOR flat

OTHER WORDS FROM flat

Words nearby flat

Definition for flats (2 of 2)

noun

Origin of flat

Example sentences from the Web for flats

British Dictionary definitions for flats (1 of 3)

flatties (ˈflætɪz)

pl n

British Dictionary definitions for flats (2 of 3)

adjective flatter or flattest

adverb

noun

verb flats, flatting or flatted

Derived forms of flat

Word Origin for flat

British Dictionary definitions for flats (3 of 3)

noun

verb flats, flatting or flatted (intr)

Word Origin for flat

Idioms and Phrases with flats

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

flat

adjective, flat·ter, flat·test.

noun

verb (used with object), flat·ted, flat·ting.

verb (used without object), flat·ted, flat·ting.

adverb

Verb Phrases

Idioms for flat

Origin of flat

SYNONYMS FOR flat

ANTONYMS FOR flat

OTHER WORDS FROM flat

Words nearby flat

Definition for flats (2 of 2)

noun

Origin of flat

Words related to flats

Example sentences from the Web for flats

British Dictionary definitions for flats (1 of 3)

flatties (ˈflætɪz)

pl n

British Dictionary definitions for flats (2 of 3)

adjective flatter or flattest

adverb

noun

verb flats, flatting or flatted

Derived forms of flat

Word Origin for flat

British Dictionary definitions for flats (3 of 3)

noun

verb flats, flatting or flatted (intr)

Word Origin for flat

Idioms and Phrases with flats