flat

flat ¹  (flt)

adj. flat·ter, flat·test

1. Having a horizontal surface without a slope, tilt, or curvature.

2. Having a smooth, even, level surface: a skirt sewed with fine flat seams.

3. Having a relatively broad surface in relation to thickness or depth: a flat board. See Synonyms at level.

4. Stretched out or lying at full length along the ground; prone.

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

6. Fixed; unvarying: a flat rate.

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

8.

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

b. Having lost effervescence or sparkle: flat beer.

9.

a. Deflated. Used of a tire.

b. Electrically discharged. Used of a storage battery.

10. 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.

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

12. Unmodulated; monotonous: a flat voice.

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

14. Not glossy; mat: flat paint.

15. Music

a. Being below the correct pitch.

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

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

17. Nautical Taut. Used of a sail.

adv.

1.

a. Level with the ground; horizontally.

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

2. So as to be flat.

3.

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.

n.

1. A flat surface or part.

2. A stretch of level ground. Often used in the plural: 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 half step.

b. A note that is lowered a half step.

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.

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

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flatly adv.

flatness n.

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flat ¹

Adjective

[flatter, flattest]

1. horizontal or level: roofs are now flat instead of slanted

2. even or smooth: a flat surface

3. lying stretched out at full length

4. (of a tyre) deflated

5. (of shoes) having an unraised heel

6. without qualification; total: a flat rejection

7. fixed: a flat rate

8. unexciting: a picture curiously flat in tone

9. without variation or emotion: a flat voice

10. (of drinks) no longer fizzy

11. (of a battery) fully discharged

12. (of paint) without gloss

13. Music

a. denoting a note that has been lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitone: B flat

b. (of an instrument, voice, etc.) out of tune by being too low in pitch

Adverb

1. in or into a level or flat position: the boat was knocked almost flat

2. completely: flat broke

3. exactly: in three months flat

4. Music

a. lower than a standard pitch

b. too low in pitch: singing flat

5. fall flat (on one's face) to fail to achieve a desired effect

6. flat out Informal with maximum speed and effort

Noun

1. a flat object or part

2. low-lying land, esp. a marsh

3. a mud bank exposed at low tide

4. Music

a. an accidental that lowers the pitch of a note by one semitone Symbol: \&f

b. a note affected by this accidental

5. Theatre a wooden frame covered with painted canvas, used to form part of a stage setting

6. a punctured car tyre

7. the flat Chiefly Brit the season of flat racing [Old Norse flatr]

flatly adv

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flat ²

Noun

a set of rooms forming a home entirely on one floor of a building

Verb

[flatting, flatted]

1. Austral & NZ to share a flat

2. go flatting Austral & NZ to leave home to share a flat [Old English flett floor, hall, house]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	flat - a level tract of land; "the salt flats of Utah" alluvial flat, alluvial plain - a flat resulting from repeated deposits of alluvial material by running water champaign, plain, field - extensive tract of level open land; "they emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain"; "he longed for the fields of his youth" salt flat, salt plain - a flat expanse of salt left by the evaporation of a body of salt water
	2.	flat - a shallow box in which seedlings are started box - a (usually rectangular) container; may have a lid; "he rummaged through a box of spare parts"
	3.	flat - a musical notation indicating one half step lower than the note named musical notation - (music) notation used by musicians double flat - a musical notation of two flats in front of a note indicating that it is to be lowered by two semitones
	4.	flat - freight car without permanent sides or roof flatbed, flatcar freight car - a railway car that carries freight
	5.	flat - a deflated pneumatic tire flat tire pneumatic tire, pneumatic tyre - a tire made of reinforced rubber and filled with compressed air; used on motor vehicles and bicycles etc
	6.	flat - scenery consisting of a wooden frame covered with painted canvas; part of a stage setting coulisse, wing flat - a flat situated in the wings mise en scene, stage setting, setting - arrangement of scenery and properties to represent the place where a play or movie is enacted scenery, scene - the painted structures of a stage set that are intended to suggest a particular locale; "they worked all night painting the scenery" tormenter, tormentor, teaser - a flat at each side of the stage to prevent the audience from seeing into the wings
	7.	flat - a suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment house apartment apartment building, apartment house - a building that is divided into apartments bedsit, bedsitter, bedsitting room - a furnished sitting room with sleeping accommodations (and some plumbing) cold-water flat - an apartment without modern conveniences duplex apartment, duplex - an apartment having rooms on two floors that are connected by a staircase efficiency apartment - a furnished apartment with a kitchenette and bathroom flatlet - a tiny flat housing, living accommodations, lodging - structures collectively in which people are housed kitchenette - small kitchen maisonette, maisonnette - a self-contained apartment (usually on two floors) in a larger house and with its own entrance from the outside penthouse - an apartment located on the top floors of a building railroad flat - an apartment whose rooms are all in a line with doors between them studio apartment, studio - an apartment with a living space and a bathroom and a small kitchen rooms, suite - apartment consisting of a series of connected rooms used as a living unit (as in a hotel) walk-up, walk-up apartment - an apartment in a building without an elevator
Adj.	1.	flat - having a surface without slope, tilt in which no part is higher or lower than another; "a flat desk"; "acres of level farmland"; "a plane surface"; "skirts sewn with fine flat seams" level, plane even - being level or straight or regular and without variation as e.g. in shape or texture; or being in the same plane or at the same height as something else (i.e. even with); "an even application of varnish"; "an even floor"; "the road was not very even"; "the picture is even with the window"
	2.	flat - having a relatively broad surface in relation to depth or thickness; "flat computer monitors" planar, two-dimensional - involving two dimensions
	3.	flat - not modified or restricted by reservations; "a categorical denial"; "a flat refusal" categoric, categorical, unconditional unqualified - not limited or restricted; "an unqualified denial"
	4.	flat - stretched out and lying at full length along the ground; "found himself lying flat on the floor" prostrate unerect - not upright in position or posture
	5.	flat - lacking contrast or shading between tones photography, picture taking - the act of taking and printing photographs contrasty - having sharp differences between black and white
	6.	flat - (of a musical note) lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitone; "B flat" music - an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner natural - (of a musical note) being neither raised nor lowered by one chromatic semitone; "a natural scale"; "B natural" sharp - (of a musical note) raised in pitch by one chromatic semitone; "C sharp"
	7.	flat - flattened laterally along the whole length (e.g., certain leafstalks or flatfishes) compressed biological science, biology - the science that studies living organisms thin - of relatively small extent from one surface to the opposite or in cross section; "thin wire"; "a thin chiffon blouse"; "a thin book"; "a thin layer of paint"
	8.	flat - lacking taste or flavor or tang; "a bland diet"; "insipid hospital food"; "flavorless supermarket tomatoes"; "vapid beer"; "vapid tea" bland, flavorless, flavourless, insipid, savorless, savourless, vapid tasteless - lacking flavor
	9.	flat - lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting; "a bland little drama"; "a flat joke" bland unexciting, unstimulating - not stimulating
	10.	flat - having lost effervescence; "flat beer"; "a flat cola" noneffervescent - not effervescent
	11.	flat - sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch; "the owl's faint monotonous hooting" monotone, monotonic, monotonous unmodulated - characterized by lack of variation in pitch, tone, or volume; "he lectured in an unmodulated voice edged with hysteria"
	12.	flat - horizontally level; "a flat roof" horizontal - parallel to or in the plane of the horizon or a base line; "a horizontal surface"
	13.	flat - lacking the expected range or depth; not designed to give an illusion or depth; "a film with two-dimensional characters"; "a flat two-dimensional painting" 2-dimensional, two-dimensional multidimensional - having or involving or marked by several dimensions or aspects; "multidimensional problems"; "a multidimensional proposition"; "a multidimensional personality"
	14.	flat - not reflecting light; not glossy; "flat wall paint"; "a photograph with a matte finish" mat, matt, matte, matted dull - emitting or reflecting very little light; "a dull glow"; "dull silver badly in need of a polish"; "a dull sky"
	15.	flat - commercially inactive; "flat sales for the month"; "prices remained flat"; "a flat market" inactive - (pathology) not progressing or increasing; or progressing slowly
Adv.	1.	flat - with flat sails; "sail flat against the wind"
	2.	flat - in a forthright manner; candidly or frankly; "he didn't answer directly"; "told me straight out"; "came out flat for less work and more pay" straight, directly

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flat ¹

adjective 1. even, level, levelled, plane, smooth, uniform, horizontal, unbroken, planar << OPPOSITE uneven

adjective 2. horizontal, prone, outstretched, reclining, prostrate, laid low, supine, recumbent, lying full length << OPPOSITE upright

adjective 3. punctured, collapsed, burst, blown out, deflated, empty

adjective 4. used up, finished, empty, drained, expired

adjective 5. absolute, firm, direct, straight, positive, fixed, plain, final, explicit, definite, outright, unconditional, downright, unmistakable, unequivocal, unqualified, out-and-out, categorical, peremptory

adjective 6. dull, dead, empty, boring, depressing, pointless, tedious, stale, lacklustre, tiresome, lifeless, monotonous, uninteresting, insipid, unexciting, spiritless << OPPOSITE exciting

adjective 7. without energy, empty, weak, tired, depressed, drained, weary, worn out, dispirited, downhearted, tired out

adjective 8. monotonous, boring, uniform, dull, tedious, droning, tiresome, unchanging, colourless, toneless, samey (informal) uninflected, unvaried

noun 9. (often plural) plain, strand, shallow, marsh, swamp, shoal, lowland, mud flat

adverb 10. completely, directly, absolutely, categorically, precisely, exactly, utterly, outright, point blank, unequivocally flat out (Informal) at full speed, all out, to the full, hell for leather (informal) as hard as possible, at full tilt, at full gallop, posthaste, for all you are worth, under full steam

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flat ²

noun apartment, rooms, quarters, digs, suite, penthouse, living quarters, duplex U.S., Canad. bachelor apartment Canad.

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In photography, lacking in contrast.

Translations

flat [flæt] adj → llano (= smooth); liso; [tyre] → desinflado; [battery] → descargado; [beer] → sin gas;

(MUS) [instrument] → desafinado

n (BRIT) (= apartment); piso (SP); departamento (LAM); apartamento;

(AUT) → pinchazo;

(MUS) → bemol m;

(to work) flat out → (trabajar) a tope;

flat rate of pay → sueldo fijo

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flat [flæt] adj → plat(e); [tyre] → dégonflé(e) → à plat; [beer] → éventé(e) [+ battery]; à plat; [denial] → catégorique;

(Mus) → bémol inv: [voice] → faux(fausse)

n (Brit) (= apartment); appartement m;

(Aut) → crevaison f, pneu crevé;

(Mus) → bémol m;

flat out [work] → sans relâche; [race] → à fond;

flat rate of pay (Comm) → salaire m fixe

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flat [flæt] adj → flach;

(surface) → eben;

(tyre) → platt;

(battery) → leer;

(beer) → schal;

(refusal, denial) → glatt;

(note, voice) → zu tief;

(rate, fee) → Pauschal-

n (Brit) (apartment) → Wohnung f;

(Aut) → (Reifen)panne f;

(Mus) → Erniedrigungszeichen nt;

to work flat out → auf Hochtouren arbeiten;

flat rate of pay → Pauschallohn m

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flat [flæt] adj → piatto/a; [tyre] → sgonfio/a, a terra; [battery] → scarico/a; [denial] → netto/a;

(MUS) → bemolle inv: [voice] → stonato/a: [instrument] → scordato/a

n (BRIT) (= rooms); appartamento;

(MUS) → bemolle m;

(AUT) → pneumatico sgonfio

adv (to work) flat out → (lavorare) a più non posso;

flat rate of pay → tariffa unica di pagamento