FLAT (flatted, flatter, flattest, flatting)

Pronunciation (US):

• FLAT (noun)
  The noun FLAT has 7 senses:

1. a level tract of land
2. a shallow box in which seedlings are started
3. a musical notation indicating one half step lower than the note named
4. freight car without permanent sides or roof
5. a deflated pneumatic tire
6. scenery consisting of a wooden frame covered with painted canvas; part of a stage setting
7. a suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment house

  Familiarity information: FLAT used as a noun is common.

• FLAT (adjective)
  The adjective FLAT has 17 senses:

1. having a surface without slope, tilt in which no part is higher or lower than another
2. having a relatively broad surface in relation to depth or thickness
3. not modified or restricted by reservations
4. stretched out and lying at full length along the ground
5. lacking contrast or shading between tones
6. lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitone
7. flattened laterally along the whole length (e.g., certain leafstalks or flatfishes)
8. lacking taste or flavor or tang
9. lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting
10. having lost effervescence
11. (of taxes) not increasing as the amount taxed increases
12. sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch
13. horizontally level
14. lacking the expected range or depth; not designed to give an illusion or depth
15. (of a tire) completely or partially deflated
16. not reflecting light; not glossy
17. commercially inactive

  Familiarity information: FLAT used as an adjective is very familiar.

• FLAT (adverb)
  The adverb FLAT has 2 senses:

1. with flat sails
2. in a forthright manner; candidly or frankly

  Familiarity information: FLAT used as an adverb is rare.

• FLAT (noun)

Sense 1

flat [BACK TO TOP]

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"):

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

Sense 2

flat [BACK TO TOP]

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

flat [BACK TO TOP]

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 (a 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

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Freight car without permanent sides or roof

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

flatcar; flatbed; flat

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

freight car (a railway car that carries freight)

Sense 5

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

A deflated pneumatic tire

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

flat tire; flat

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

flat [BACK TO TOP]

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

flat [BACK TO TOP]

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"):

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

• FLAT (adjective)

Sense 1

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

flat; level; plane

Context examples:

a flat desk / acres of level farmland / a plane surface / 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))

Sense 2

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Having a relatively broad surface in relation to depth or thickness

Context example:

flat computer monitors

Similar:

planar; two-dimensional (involving two dimensions)

Sense 3

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Not modified or restricted by reservations

Synonyms:

categoric; categorical; unconditional; flat

Context examples:

a categorical denial / a flat refusal

Similar:

unqualified (not limited or restricted)

Sense 4

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Stretched out and lying at full length along the ground

Synonyms:

prostrate; flat

Context example:

found himself lying flat on the floor

Similar:

unerect (not upright in position or posture)

Sense 5

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Lacking contrast or shading between tones

Similar:

underdeveloped ((of a photograph) lacking in contrast because it was left in the developer for less than the required time)

Domain category:

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

Antonym:

contrasty (having sharp differences between black and white)

Sense 6

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

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 key) containing no sharps or flats; (of a note) being neither raised nor lowered by one chromatic semitone)

sharp (raised in pitch by one chromatic semitone)

Sense 7

flat [BACK TO TOP]

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)

Sense 8

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Lacking taste or flavor or tang

Synonyms:

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

Context examples:

a bland diet / insipid hospital food / flavorless supermarket tomatoes / vapid beer / vapid tea

Similar:

tasteless (lacking flavor)

Sense 9

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting

Synonyms:

bland; flat

Context examples:

a bland little drama / a flat joke

Similar:

unexciting; unstimulating (not stimulating)

Sense 10

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Having lost effervescence

Context examples:

flat beer / a flat cola

Similar:

noneffervescent (not effervescent)

Sense 11

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

(of taxes) not increasing as the amount taxed increases

Synonyms:

fixed; flat

Similar:

regressive ((of taxes) adjusted so that the rate decreases as the amount of income increases)

Sense 12

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch

Synonyms:

monotone; monotonic; monotonous; flat

Context example:

the owl's faint monotonous hooting

Similar:

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

Sense 13

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Horizontally level

Context example:

a flat roof

Similar:

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

Sense 14

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

2-dimensional; two-dimensional; flat

Context examples:

a film with two-dimensional characters / a flat two-dimensional painting

Similar:

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

Sense 15

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

(of a tire) completely or partially deflated

Similar:

deflated (collapsed through the release of gas or air)

Sense 16

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Not reflecting light; not glossy

Synonyms:

matte; matt; mat; matted; flat

Context examples:

flat wall paint / a photograph with a matte finish

Similar:

dull (emitting or reflecting very little light)

Sense 17

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Commercially inactive

Context examples:

flat sales for the month / prices remained flat / a flat market

Similar:

inactive (not progressing or increasing; or progressing slowly)

• FLAT (adverb)

Sense 1

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

With flat sails

Context example:

sail flat against the wind

Sense 2

flat [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

In a forthright manner; candidly or frankly

Synonyms:

flat; straight; directly

Context examples:

he didn't answer directly / told me straight out / came out flat for less work and more pay