Word: flat Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *flataz Old Norse flatrbor. Middle English flat English 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. Pronunciation: /ˈflæt/, /ˈflat/, /ˈflɛt/ 1. Having no variations in height. Example: The land around here is flat. 2. Having no variations in height. Example: a flat roof 3. Having no variations in height. Example: The surface of the mirror must be completely flat. Example: The carpet isn't properly flat in that corner. 4. Having no variations in height. Labels: slang Example: Near-synonym: flat-chested Example: That girl is completely flat on both sides. 5. Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc. Example: The exchange rate has been flat for several weeks. 6. Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc. Example: Sales have been flat all year, and we've barely broken even. 7. Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc. Labels: not-comparable Example: a flat fee Example: flat rates 8. Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc. Example: He delivered the speech in a flat tone. 9. Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc. 10. Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc. Example: The walls were painted a flat gray. 11. Lacking liveliness or action; depressed; uninteresting; dull and boring. Labels: figuratively Example: The party was a bit flat. Example: The market is flat today as most traders are on holiday. 12. Lacking liveliness or action; depressed; uninteresting; dull and boring. Labels: especially, figuratively Example: The author added a chapter to flesh out the book's flatter characters. 13. Lowered by one semitone. 14. Of a note or voice, lower in pitch than it should be. Example: Your A string is flat. 15. Absolute; downright; peremptory. Example: His claim was in flat contradiction to experimental results. Example: I'm not going to the party and that's flat. 16. Deflated, especially because of a puncture. 17. With all or most of its carbon dioxide having come out of solution so that the drink no longer fizzes or contains any bubbles. 18. Lacking acidity without being sweet. 19. Unable to emit power; dead. 20. Without spin; spinless. 21. Sonant; vocal, as distinguished from a sharp (non-sonant) consonant. Labels: dated 22. 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". Example: Many flat adverbs, as in 'run fast', 'buy cheap', etc. are from Old English. 23. Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft. 24. Flattening at the ends. 25. Exact. Example: He finished the race in a flat four minutes. 26. Such that the tensor product preserves exact sequences. See Flat module on Wikipedia.Wikipedia. 27. Such that its target, regarded as a module over its source, is flat (as above). 28. Such that the induced map on every stalk is flat (as a map of rings). 29. Having little froth and little milk. 30. Foolish; simple-minded. Labels: UK, obsolete, slang Example: 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.