flat¹

(flăt)

adj. flat·ter, flat·test

a. Having a smooth, even surface: a flat field. See Synonyms at level.

b. Having a relatively broad level surface in relation to thickness or depth: a flat box.

a. Being in horizontal position; lying down: flat on his back.

b. Being without slope or curvature: a flat line on a chart.

c. Having a low heel or no heel: flat shoes.

3. Free of qualification; absolute: a flat refusal.

4. Fixed; unvarying: a flat rate.

5. Lacking interest or excitement; dull: a flat scenario.

a. Lacking in flavor: a flat stew that needs salt.

b. Having lost effervescence or sparkle: flat beer.

a. Deflated. Used of a tire.

b. Electrically discharged. Used of a storage battery.

8. Of or relating to a horizontal line that displays no ups or downs and signifies the absence of physiological activity: A flat electroencephalogram indicates a loss of brain function.

9. Of or relating to a hierarchy with relatively few tiers or levels: a flat organization chart.

10. Commercially inactive; sluggish: flat sales for the month.

11. Unmodulated; monotonous: a flat voice.

12. Lacking variety in tint or shading; uniform: "The sky was bright but flat, the color of oyster shells" (Anne Tyler).

13. Not glossy; matte: flat paint.

14. Music

a. Being below the correct pitch.

b. Being one half step lower than the corresponding natural key: the key of B flat.

15. Designating the vowel a as pronounced in bad or cat.

16. Nautical Taut. Used of a sail.

17. Informal Having small breasts.

adv.

a. Level with the ground; horizontally.

b. On or up against a flat surface; at full length.

2. So as to be flat.

a. Directly; completely: went flat against the rules; flat broke.

b. Exactly; precisely: arrived in six minutes flat.

4. Music Below the intended pitch.

5. Business Without interest charge.

1. A flat surface or part.

2. often flats A stretch of level ground: salt flats.

3. A shallow frame or box for seeds or seedlings.

4. A movable section of stage scenery, usually consisting of a wooden frame and a decorated panel of wood or cloth.

5. A flatcar.

6. A deflated tire.

7. A shoe with a flat heel.

8. A large flat piece of mail.

9. A horse that competes in a flat race. Also called runner.

10. Music

a. A sign (♭) used to indicate that a note is to be lowered by a semitone.

b. A note that is lowered a semitone.

11. Football The area of the field to either side of an offensive formation.

v. flat·ted, flat·ting, flats

v.tr.

1. To make flat; flatten.

2. Music To lower (a note) a semitone.

v.intr. Music

To sing or play below the proper pitch.

[Middle English, from Old Norse flatr; see plat- in Indo-European roots.]

flat′ly adv.

flat′ness n.

flat²

(flăt)

1. An apartment on one floor of a building.

2. Archaic A story in a house.

[Alteration of Scots flet, inner part of a house, from Middle English, from Old English, floor, dwelling; see plat- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	flatness - the property of having two dimensions planeness, two-dimensionality dimensionality - the spatial property of having dimensions; "all matter has dimensionality"
	2.	flatness - a want of animation or brilliance; "the almost self-conscious flatness of Hemingway's style" expressive style, style - a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period; "all the reporters were expected to adopt the style of the newspaper"
	3.	flatness - a deficiency in flavor; "it needed lemon juice to sharpen the flatness of the dried lentils" gustatory perception, gustatory sensation, taste, taste perception, taste sensation - the sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus; "the candy left him with a bad taste"; "the melon had a delicious taste"
	4.	flatness - the property of having little or no contrast; lacking highlights or gloss lusterlessness, lustrelessness, matt, matte, mat dullness - a lack of visual brightness; "the brightness of the orange sky was reflected in the dullness of the orange sea"
	5.	flatness - inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy; "the general appearance of sluggishness alarmed his friends" languor, lethargy, phlegm, sluggishness inertia, inactiveness, inactivity - a disposition to remain inactive or inert; "he had to overcome his inertia and get back to work"

flatness

noun

1. evenness, uniformity, smoothness, horizontality, levelness Notice the flatness and the rich, red earth.

2. dullness, emptiness, tedium, monotony, staleness, vapidity, insipidity He detected a certain flatness in the days that followed.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

flatness

noun

A lack of excitement, liveliness, or interest:

asepticism, blandness, colorlessness, drabness, dreariness, dryness, dullness, flavorlessness, insipidity, insipidness, jejuneness, lifelessness, sterileness, sterility, stodginess, vapidity, vapidness, weariness.

Translations

плоскость

flatness

[ˈflætnɪs] N

1. [of land] → llanura f, lo llano; [of surface] → lisura f

2. [of drink] → lo poco gaseoso

3. (fig) [of atmosphere, relationship, voice] → monotonía f
her voice had a weary flatness → su voz tenía una monotonía cansina

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

flatness

[ˈflætnɪs] n [land] → absence f de relief, aspect m platflat pack flat-pack n (British) → meuble m en kitflat racing n → course f de platflat rate n [interest, tax] → taux m fixeflat-rate [ˈflætreɪt] modif [tax, charge] → forfaitaireflat-screen [ˈflætskriːn] modif → à écran platflat season n (HORSE RACING) → saison f des courses de plat

flatness

→ Flachheit f; (of nose) → Plattheit f; (of surface) → Ebenheit f

(fig) → Fadheit f; (of painting, photo) → Flachheit f, → Kontrastarmut f; (of colour) → Stumpfheit f; (of joke, remark) → Abgedroschenheit f; (of trade, market) → Lustlosigkeit f; (of beer, wine) → Schalheit f

(of refusal, denial) → Deutlichkeit f, → Direktheit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

flatness

[ˈflætnɪs] n (gen) → piattezza; (dullness) → piattezza, monotonia; (of land) → assenza di rilievi

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

He was tall, thin, and wasted, with a slight stoop in the shoulders, a pale face, but somewhat blotchy, and disagreeably red about the eyelids, plain features, and a general appearance of languor and flatness, relieved by a sinister expression in the mouth and the dull, soulless eyes.

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Not quite sure of her direction Tess stood still upon the hemmed expanse of verdant flatness, like a fly on a billiard-table of indefinite length, and of no more consequence to the surroundings than that fly.

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Catherine was ashamed to say how pretty she thought it, as the general seemed to think an apology necessary for the flatness of the country, and the size of the village; but in her heart she preferred it to any place she had ever been at, and looked with great admiration at every neat house above the rank of a cottage, and at all the little chandler's shops which they passed.

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I could not detect the smallest dot of a bird on the immense sky, and the flatness of the land continued the flatness of the sea to the naked line of the hori zon.

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He thought of the winding white roads and the hedgerows, the green meadows with their elm-trees, the delicate line of the hills and the copses that crowned them, the flatness of the marshes, and the melancholy of the North Sea.

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Great as the picture was, its very flatness and extent, which left nothing to the imagination, tamed it down and cramped its interest.

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His glance was keen but showed cunning rather than intelligence; his lips were straight, and so thin that, as they closed, they were drawn in over the teeth; his cheek-bones were broad and projecting, a never-failing proof of audacity and craftiness; while the flatness of his forehead, and the enlargement of the back of his skull, which rose much higher than his large and coarsely shaped ears, combined to form a physiognomy anything but prepossessing, save in the eyes of such as considered that the owner of so splendid an equipage must needs be all that was admirable and enviable, more especially when they gazed on the enormous diamond that glittered in his shirt, and the red ribbon that depended from his button-hole.

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"You've arranged it delightfully," he rejoined, alive to the flatness of the words, but imprisoned in the conventional by his consuming desire to be simple and striking.

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Chailey folded her sheets, but her expression testified to flatness within.

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Thus in these brief weeks Dorothea's joyous grateful expectation was unbroken, and however her lover might occasionally be conscious of flatness, he could never refer it to any slackening of her affectionate interest.

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Of the three zones of comparative luxuriance, the lower one owes its moisture, and therefore fertility, to its flatness; for, being scarcely raised above the level of the sea, the water from the higher land drains away slowly.

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The sun had set some time before; my boat glided in a sort of winding ditch between two low grassy banks; on both sides of me was the flatness of the Essex marsh, perfectly still.

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