English Dictionary

FLAT (flatted, flatter, flattest, flatting)

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

IPA (US): 

Irregular inflected forms: flatted  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation, flatter  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation, flattest  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation, flatting  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation

 Dictionary entry overview: What does flat mean? 

FLAT (noun)
  The noun FLAT has 7 senses:

1. a level tract of landplay

2. a shallow box in which seedlings are startedplay

3. a musical notation indicating one half step lower than the note namedplay

4. freight car without permanent sides or roofplay

5. a deflated pneumatic tireplay

6. scenery consisting of a wooden frame covered with painted canvas; part of a stage settingplay

7. a suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment houseplay

  Familiarity information: FLAT used as a noun is common.


FLAT (adjective)
  The adjective FLAT has 15 senses:

1. having a surface without slope, tilt in which no part is higher or lower than anotherplay

2. having a relatively broad surface in relation to depth or thicknessplay

3. not modified or restricted by reservationsplay

4. stretched out and lying at full length along the groundplay

5. lacking contrast or shading between tonesplay

6. (of a musical note) lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitoneplay

7. flattened laterally along the whole length (e.g., certain leafstalks or flatfishes)play

8. lacking taste or flavor or tangplay

9. lacking stimulating characteristics; uninterestingplay

10. having lost effervescenceplay

11. sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitchplay

12. horizontally levelplay

13. lacking the expected range or depth; not designed to give an illusion or depthplay

14. not reflecting light; not glossyplay

15. commercially inactiveplay

  Familiarity information: FLAT used as an adjective is familiar.


FLAT (adverb)
  The adverb FLAT has 2 senses:

1. with flat sailsplay

2. in a forthright manner; candidly or franklyplay

  Familiarity information: FLAT used as an adverb is rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


FLAT (noun)


Sense 1

Meaning:

A level tract of land

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Context example:

the salt flats of Utah

Hypernyms ("flat" is a kind of...):

champaign; field; plain (extensive tract of level open land)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flat"):

alluvial flat; alluvial plain (a flat resulting from repeated deposits of alluvial material by running water)

salt flat; salt plain (a flat expanse of salt left by the evaporation of a body of salt water)


Sense 2

Meaning:

A shallow box in which seedlings are started

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("flat" is a kind of...):

box (a (usually rectangular) container; may have a lid)


Sense 3

Meaning:

A musical notation indicating one half step lower than the note named

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("flat" is a kind of...):

musical notation ((music) notation used by musicians)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flat"):

double flat (a musical notation of two flats in front of a note indicating that it is to be lowered by two semitones)


Sense 4

Meaning:

Freight car without permanent sides or roof

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

flat; flatbed; flatcar

Hypernyms ("flat" is a kind of...):

freight car (a railway car that carries freight)


Sense 5

Meaning:

A deflated pneumatic tire

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

flat; flat tire

Hypernyms ("flat" is a kind of...):

pneumatic tire; pneumatic tyre (a tire made of reinforced rubber and filled with compressed air; used on motor vehicles and bicycles etc)


Sense 6

Meaning:

Scenery consisting of a wooden frame covered with painted canvas; part of a stage setting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("flat" is a kind of...):

scene; scenery (the painted structures of a stage set that are intended to suggest a particular locale)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flat"):

coulisse; wing flat (a flat situated in the wings)

teaser; tormenter; tormentor (a flat at each side of the stage to prevent the audience from seeing into the wings)

Holonyms ("flat" is a part of...):

mise en scene; setting; stage setting (arrangement of scenery and properties to represent the place where a play or movie is enacted)


Sense 7

Meaning:

A suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment house

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

apartment; flat

Hypernyms ("flat" is a kind of...):

housing; living accommodations; lodging (structures collectively in which people are housed)

Meronyms (parts of "flat"):

kitchenette (small kitchen)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flat"):

bedsit; bedsitter; bedsitting room (a furnished sitting room with sleeping accommodations (and some plumbing))

walk-up; walk-up apartment (an apartment in a building without an elevator)

rooms; suite (apartment consisting of a series of connected rooms used as a living unit (as in a hotel))

studio; studio apartment (an apartment with a living space and a bathroom and a small kitchen)

railroad flat (an apartment whose rooms are all in a line with doors between them)

penthouse (an apartment located on the top floors of a building)

maisonette; maisonnette (a self-contained apartment (usually on two floors) in a larger house and with its own entrance from the outside)

flatlet (a tiny flat)

efficiency apartment (a furnished apartment with a kitchenette and bathroom)

duplex; duplex apartment (an apartment having rooms on two floors that are connected by a staircase)

cold-water flat (an apartment without modern conveniences)

Holonyms ("flat" is a part of...):

apartment building; apartment house (a building that is divided into apartments)

Derivation:

flatlet (a tiny flat)


FLAT (adjective)

 Declension: comparative and superlative 
Comparative: flatter  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Superlative: flattest  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation


Sense 1

Meaning:

Having a surface without slope, tilt in which no part is higher or lower than another

Synonyms:

flat; level; plane

Context example:

skirts sewn with fine flat seams

Similar:

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))

Derivation:

flatness (the property of having two dimensions)


Sense 2

Meaning:

Having a relatively broad surface in relation to depth or thickness

Context example:

flat computer monitors

Similar:

planar; two-dimensional (involving or having two dimensions)

Derivation:

flatness (the property of having two dimensions)


Sense 3

Meaning:

Not modified or restricted by reservations

Synonyms:

categoric; categorical; flat; unconditional

Context example:

a flat refusal

Similar:

unqualified (not limited or restricted)


Sense 4

Meaning:

Stretched out and lying at full length along the ground

Synonyms:

flat; prostrate

Context example:

found himself lying flat on the floor

Similar:

unerect (not upright in position or posture)


Sense 5

Meaning:

Lacking contrast or shading between tones

Domain category:

photography; picture taking (the act of taking and printing photographs)

Antonym:

contrasty (having sharp differences between black and white)

Derivation:

flatness (the property of having little or no contrast; lacking highlights or gloss)


Sense 6

Meaning:

(of a musical note) lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitone

Context example:

B flat

Domain category:

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

Antonym:

natural ((of a musical note) being neither raised nor lowered by one chromatic semitone)

sharp ((of a musical note) raised in pitch by one chromatic semitone)


Sense 7

Meaning:

Flattened laterally along the whole length (e.g., certain leafstalks or flatfishes)

Synonyms:

compressed; flat

Similar:

thin (of relatively small extent from one surface to the opposite or in cross section)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

Derivation:

flatness (the property of having two dimensions)


Sense 8

Meaning:

Lacking taste or flavor or tang

Synonyms:

bland; flat; flavorless; flavourless; insipid; savorless; savourless; vapid

Context example:

vapid tea

Similar:

tasteless (lacking flavor)

Derivation:

flatness (a deficiency in flavor)


Sense 9

Meaning:

Lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting

Synonyms:

bland; flat

Context example:

a flat joke

Similar:

unexciting; unstimulating (not stimulating)

Derivation:

flatness (a want of animation or brilliance)


Sense 10

Meaning:

Having lost effervescence

Context example:

a flat cola

Similar:

noneffervescent (not effervescent)


Sense 11

Meaning:

Sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch

Synonyms:

flat; monotone; monotonic; monotonous

Context example:

the owl's faint monotonous hooting

Similar:

unmodulated (characterized by lack of variation in pitch, tone, or volume)

Derivation:

flatness (a want of animation or brilliance)


Sense 12

Meaning:

Horizontally level

Context example:

a flat roof

Similar:

horizontal (parallel to or in the plane of the horizon or a base line)


Sense 13

Meaning:

Lacking the expected range or depth; not designed to give an illusion or depth

Synonyms:

2-dimensional; flat; two-dimensional

Context example:

a flat two-dimensional painting

Similar:

multidimensional (having or involving or marked by several dimensions or aspects)

Derivation:

flatness (a want of animation or brilliance)


Sense 14

Meaning:

Not reflecting light; not glossy

Synonyms:

flat; mat; matt; matte; matted

Context example:

a photograph with a matte finish

Similar:

dull (emitting or reflecting very little light)

Derivation:

flatness (the property of having little or no contrast; lacking highlights or gloss)


Sense 15

Meaning:

Commercially inactive

Context example:

a flat market

Similar:

inactive ((pathology) not progressing or increasing; or progressing slowly)


FLAT (adverb)


Sense 1

Meaning:

With flat sails

Context example:

sail flat against the wind


Sense 2

Meaning:

In a forthright manner; candidly or frankly

Synonyms:

directly; flat; straight

Context example:

came out flat for less work and more pay


 Context examples 


He tries this on very much with me, but I flatter myself he has got a tough nut to crack.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It is composed of a wide, flat bundle of 200-250 million axonal projections.

(Corpus Callosum, NCI Thesaurus)

A flat, circular shaped form composed of a solid or powder that contains active and/or inert ingredient(s).

(Disc Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus)

A flat circular plate or anything with a similar shape.

(Disc Shape, NCI Thesaurus)

A flat dish type device with multiple wells for testing cellular material.

(Microwell Plate, NCI Thesaurus)

A flat rotating disk designed for data storage.

(Computer Disc, NCI Thesaurus)

They are thin, flat cells that look like fish scales under a microscope.

(Cervical squamous cell carcinoma, NCI Dictionary)

We ran down the flying jib, hauled the jib-sheets to wind-ward and the main-sheet flat, and came up into the wind.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The straight, harsh, double coat lies flat.

(Canaan Dog, NCI Thesaurus)

Look to the right, and you'll see a flat country, with a good deal of marsh in it; look to the left, and you'll see the same.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"Diseases come on horseback, but steal away on foot." (English proverb)

"Who stays under the tree, eats its fruits." (Albanian proverb)

"Send a wise man and don't advise him." (Arabic proverb)

"Empty barrels make more noise." (Danish proverb)



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