Word.ws English Dictionary

flat

/ˈflæt/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈflat/

flat adjective: having no variations in height. Also the ellipsis of flat water.

flat: having no variations in height
Image: Frenkieb from Netherlands, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

flat (comparative flatter, superlative flattest)

  1. Having no variations in height.
    • The land around here is flat.
    1. In a horizontal line or plane; not sloping.
      • a flat roof
    2. Smooth; having no protrusions, indentations or other surface irregularities, or relatively so.
      • The surface of the mirror must be completely flat.
      • The carpet isn't properly flat in that corner.
    3. (slang) Having small or invisible breasts and/or buttocks.
      • Near-synonym: flat-chested
      • That girl is completely flat on both sides.
  2. Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc.
    • The exchange rate has been flat for several weeks.
    1. At a consistently depressed level; consistently lacklustre.
      • Sales have been flat all year, and we've barely broken even.
    2. (not comparable) Of fees, fares etc., fixed; unvarying.
      • a flat fee
      • flat rates
    3. (voice) Without variations in pitch.
      • He delivered the speech in a flat tone.
    4. Not diphthongal; without variation in height or backness.
    5. Without variation in tone or hue (uniform), and dull (not glossy).
      • The walls were painted a flat gray.
  3. (figuratively) Lacking liveliness or action; depressed; uninteresting; dull and boring.
    • The party was a bit flat.
    • The market is flat today as most traders are on holiday.
    1. (especially, figuratively) Lacking in depth, substance, or believability; underdeveloped; one-dimensional.
      • The author added a chapter to flesh out the book's flatter characters.
  4. (note) Lowered by one semitone.
  5. Of a note or voice, lower in pitch than it should be.
    • Your A string is flat.
  6. Absolute; downright; peremptory.
    • His claim was in flat contradiction to experimental results.
    • I'm not going to the party and that's flat.
  7. Deflated, especially because of a puncture.
    Synonyms:
    deflated, puncture
  8. With all or most of its carbon dioxide having come out of solution so that the drink no longer fizzes or contains any bubbles.
    Synonyms:
    still
  9. Lacking acidity without being sweet.
    Synonyms:
    flabby
  10. Unable to emit power; dead.
  11. Without spin; spinless.
  12. (dated) Sonant; vocal, as distinguished from a sharp (non-sonant) consonant.
Show 9 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. 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".
    • Many flat adverbs, as in 'run fast', 'buy cheap', etc. are from Old English.
  2. Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft.
  3. Flattening at the ends.
  4. Exact.
    • He finished the race in a flat four minutes.
  5. (homological algebra) Such that the tensor product preserves exact sequences. See Flat module on Wikipedia.Wikipedia.
  6. (ring theory) Such that its target, regarded as a module over its source, is flat (as above).
  7. (scheme theory) Such that the induced map on every stalk is flat (as a map of rings).
  8. Having little froth and little milk.
  9. (UK, obsolete, slang) Foolish; simple-minded.
    • 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.1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861

Adverb

flat (comparative more flat, superlative most flat)

  1. So as to be flat.
    • Spread the tablecloth flat over the table.
  2. Completely, firmly, or unequivocally.
    • 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."1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 63
  3. Exactly; precisely.
    • 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.1996, Jon Byrell, Lairs, Urgers and Coat-Tuggers, Sydney: Ironbark, page 186
  4. (distance, etc) Used to emphasize the smallness of the measurement.
    • He can run a mile in four minutes flat.
    • Found my coat and grabbed my hat / Made the bus in seconds flat1967, Lennon–McCartney, “A Day in the Life”, in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
  5. Without parole.
    • 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.1989 February 5, Mary Shallhorn, “No Unity Among The Sisters”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 29, page 5
  6. Completely.
    • I am flat broke this month.
  7. Directly; flatly.
    • Sin is flat opposite to the Almighty.[1633], George Herbert, edited by [Nicholas Ferrar], The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis...
    Synonyms:
    bluntly, curtly
  8. Without allowance for accrued interest.
    • The bonds are trading flat.
  9. Flat out (at top speed).
    • In the dry, the racing cars can take the corner flat.
    Synonyms:
    tops

Noun (1)

flat (plural flats)

  1. An area of level ground (sometimes covered with shallow or tidal water).
    • The hovercraft skimmed across the open flats.
    • the eastern end of the salt flat; mud flat, tidal flat, flood flat
    1. Level ground in general.
      • 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.
    2. (sometimes) Level horse-racing ground, as contrasted with courses incorporating jumps, or the racing done on such ground.
      • This horse will do better over the flat.
      • flat racing, the flat season
    3. (Australia, sometimes) the area in the centre of a racecourse.
      • As forecast, Joe suspected nothing as he pottered round the flat in the sunshine, absorbed in the task of picking winners.1963, George Blaikie, Scandals of Australia's Strange Past, Adelaide: Rigby Limited, page 117
    4. The areas behind the line of scrimmage to either side of an offensive football formation.
  2. 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. ♭♪).
    • The key of E♭ has three flats.
  3. (informal) A flat tyre/flat tire.
    • The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent.2012 July 15, Richard Williams, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track, Guardian Unlimited
  4. (in plural) A type of ladies' shoe with a very low heel.
    • She liked to walk in her flats more than in her high heels.
  5. (in plural) A type of flat-soled running shoe without spikes.
  6. (painting) A thin, broad brush used in oil and watercolour painting.
  7. The most prominent flat part of something.
    • 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.2024, Robert J. Meurn, Marine Cargo Operations
    1. 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.
  8. A wide, shallow container or pallet.
    • a flat of strawberries
    • In mild areas, start sowing seeds in pots and flats for later transplanting.1978, Keith Vincent Smith, The Illustrated Earth Garden Herbal, Melbourne: Thomas Nelson Australia, page endpaper
  9. (postal) A large mail piece measuring at least 8 1/2 by 11 inches, such as catalogs, magazines, and unfolded paper enclosed in large envelopes.
  10. (US) A railroad car without a roof, and whose body is a platform without sides; a platform car or flatcar.
    • 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...1960 November, David Morgan, “"Piggyback"—U.S. success story”, in Trains Illustrated, page 684
  11. A flat spot on the wheel of a rail vehicle.
    • The tender roared along vibrating vigorously; braking had resulted in "flats" on most of its tyres.1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 706
  12. A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught.
Show 13 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A subset of n-dimensional space that is congruent to a Euclidean space of lower dimension.
  2. A straw hat, broad-brimmed and low-crowned.
  3. A flat sheet for use on a bed.
    • 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.1986, New York Magazine, volume 19, number 49, page 20
  4. A flat, glossy children's book with few pages.
    • This same publisher notes pricing is a crucial factor in the mass market field of $1, $1.95 and $2.95 "flats."1970, The Publishers Weekly, volume 197, page 85
  5. A platform on a wheel, upon which emblematic designs etc. are carried in processions.
  6. A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal.
  7. (theatre) 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.
  8. Any of various hesperiid butterflies that spread their wings open when they land.
  9. (historical) An early kind of toy soldier having a flat design.
    • 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.2019, Luigi Toiati, The History of Toy Soldiers, page 78
  10. (obsolete) A dull fellow; a simpleton.
    • […] if you cannot make a speech,
      Because you are a flat,
      Go very quietly and drop
      A button in the hat!1836, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Music-Grinders
    • "He fancies he can play at billiards," said he. "I won two hundred of him at the Cocoa-Tree. HE play, the young flat! […]"1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 14, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC
  11. A flat (i.e. plane) mirror
    • "When sampling the aperture of a telescope, using auto-collimating flats (ACFs) is more economical"2013 April 1, Spechler et al., “Advanced Dispersed Fringe Sensing Algorithm for Coarse Phasing Segmented Mirror Telescopes”, in NASA Tech Briefs, retrieved 27 Dec 2021
  12. (slang) A cheater's die with the edges shaved to make certain rolls more likely.
    • 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.2005, Fred Cicetti, Local Angles: The Big News in Small Towns, page 78
  13. (British-Columbia, Canadian-Prairies) A 24-case of beer.

Verb (1)

flat (third-person singular simple present flats, present participle flatting, simple past and past participle flatted)

  1. (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. (colloquial, intransitive) To fall from the pitch.
  4. (transitive) To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone.
  5. (dated, transitive) To make flat; to flatten; to level.
    • 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...1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Stephen, the Two and Fortieth Monarch of the English-men: His Raigne, Acts, and Issue”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans...
    • The pods, which seldom contain less than thirty nuts of the size of a flatted olive, grow upon the stem and principal branches.1764, James Granger, The Sugar-Cane: a Poem. In Four Books. With Notes., M.D., Book 1, page 44, note to verse 605
  6. (dated, transitive) To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress.
    • Passions are allayed, appetites are flatted.a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn]...

Noun (2)

flat (plural flats)

  1. (Australia, India, New-England, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa) A complete domicile occupying only part of a building, especially one for rent
    • 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."1905, Sydney Perks, Residential flats of all classes, including artisans' dwellings: a practical treatise on their planning and arrangement, together with chapters on their history, financial...
    • A kiss may be grand but it won’t pay the rental on your humble flat or help you at the automat.1953 January 1, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”, in My Heart Belongs to Daddy, performed by Marilyn Monroe
    Synonyms:
    apartment

Verb (2)

flat (third-person singular simple present flats, present participle flatting, simple past and past participle flatted)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To beat or strike; pound
  2. (transitive) To dash or throw
  3. (intransitive) To dash, rush

Also used as

flat is also the ellipsis of flat water.

flat is also the ellipsis of flat ride.

flat meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

flat in Hindi

having no variations in altitude
समतल samtal

flat in Tamil

having no variations in altitude
தட்டை taṭṭai, சம cama
uninteresting
சலிப்பூட்டும் calippūṭṭum
of a tyre: deflated
தேய்ந்த tēynta
with units of time, distance, etc: not exceeding
மிகாமல் mikāmal

flat in Marathi

having no variations in altitude
सपाट sapāṭ, चपटे ċapṭe

flat in Urdu

فلیٹ, چپٹا, فلیٹ کرنا
More languagesFewer languages
flat in Bengali
সমতল śomotol
flat in Telugu
బల్లపరుపు ballaparupu, ఆసక్తి లేని āsakti lēni, చదునైన cadunaina, అరిగిన arigina
flat in Malayalam
ഫ്ലാറ്റ്
flat in Kannada
ಫ್ಲಾಟ್, ಸಮತಟ್ಟಾದ, ಸಮತಟ್ಟಾಗಿ
flat in Punjabi
ਫਲੈਟ, ਫਲੈੱਟ, ਫਲੈਟ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
flat in Gujarati
સપાટ, ફ્લેટ
flat in Odia
ଫ୍ଲାଟ, ଫ୍ଲାଟ୍
flat in Assamese
সমান xman, চেপেটা sepeta
flat in Nepali
फ्ल्याट
flat in Tagalog
patag, bimol
flat in Arabic
مُسَطَّح musaṭṭaḥ
flat in Malay
datar
flat in Indonesian
datar, gepeng, rata, kempes
flat in Persian
صاف sâf, مسطح mosattah, هموار hamvâr, پنچر pančar
flat in Thai
เรียบ rîiap
flat in Vietnamese
bằng, phẳng

Examples of flat in a sentence

  • She has quite a flat face.
  • a flat fare on public transport
  • The dialogue in your screenplay is flat — you need to make it more exciting.
  • 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. […].1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
  • Our bones are thinner, our muscles smaller, and our faces flatter than those of earlier hominins.2025 November 27, Tibi Puiu, “This Is Why Modern Human Faces Look So Different From Neanderthals”, in ZME Science, archived from the...
  • How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies...

All 40 example sentences with flat

Synonyms of flat

12 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of flat

Forms of flat

Adjective
comparativeflatter
superlativeflattest
alternative form (obsolete)flatt
alternative form (obsolete)flatte
Adverb
comparativemore flat
superlativemost flat
Noun
pluralflats
Verb
third-person singular presentflats
present participleflatting
past participleflatted
pastflatted

Plural of flat: flats

Origin of flat

From Middle English flat, a borrowing from Old Norse flatr (compare Norwegian and Swedish flat, Danish flad), from Proto-Germanic *flataz, from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat”); akin to Saterland Frisian flot (“smooth”), German Flöz (“a geological layer”), Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), Latvian plats, Sanskrit प्रथस् (prathas, “extension”). Doublet of plat and pleyt. The noun is from Middle English flat (“level piece of ground, flat edge of a weapon”), from the adjective. The algebraic sense was coined by Serre in a 1956 paper, originally as French plat.

From an alteration (due to Scots flatt (“a level part of a structure”)) of Scots flet, flett (“inner part of a house”), from Middle English flet (“dwelling”), from Old English flet, flett (“ground floor, dwelling”), from Proto-West Germanic *flati, from Proto-Germanic *flatją (“floor”), from Proto-Germanic *flataz (“flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat”). Akin to Old Frisian flet, flette (“dwelling, house”). More at flet, flat₁.

From Middle English flatten, from Old French flatir (“to knock or strike down, dash”), from Frankish *flattjan (“to move the palm of the hand”), from Proto-Germanic *flatjaną (“to make flat, flatten”).

Words formed from flat

Phrases with flat

169 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with flat

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about flat

What does flat mean?
Flat means having no variations in height.
What is flat in Hindi?
Flat in Hindi is समतल (samtal). See Flat meaning in Hindi.
How do you use flat in a sentence?
She has quite a flat face.
What part of speech is flat?
Flat can be an adjective, an adverb, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce flat?
Flat is pronounced /ˈflæt/ (UK).

Words near flat in the dictionary

  1. flasklets
  2. flasklike
  3. flasks
  4. flasksful
  5. flasque
  6. flat
  7. flat adverb
  8. flat adverbs
  9. flat affect
  10. flat affects
  11. flat as a bedsheet

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: flat (page history and authors); flat (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); flat (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); flat (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); flat (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); flat (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); flat (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); flat (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-flat.ogg, EN-AU ck1 flat.ogg, En-uk-flat.ogg.

Cite this entry: “flat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.