| Library / English Dictionary |
FLAT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: flatted , flatter , flattest , flatting
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment house
Synonyms:
apartment; flat
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
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"):
walk-up; walk-up apartment (an apartment in a building without an elevator)
bedsit; bedsitter; bedsitting room (a furnished sitting room with sleeping accommodations (and some plumbing))
cold-water flat (an apartment without modern conveniences)
duplex; duplex apartment (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)
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; studio apartment (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))
Holonyms ("flat" is a part of...):
apartment building; apartment house (a building that is divided into apartments)
Derivation:
flatlet (a tiny flat)
Sense 2
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 3
Meaning:
A deflated pneumatic tire
Synonyms:
flat; flat tire
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
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 4
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 5
Meaning:
Freight car without permanent sides or roof
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("flat" is a kind of...):
freight car (a railway car that carries freight)
Sense 6
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 7
Meaning:
A level tract of land
Example:
the salt flats of Utah
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
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)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Commercially inactive
Example:
a flat market
Classified under:
Similar:
inactive ((pathology) not progressing or increasing; or progressing slowly)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not reflecting light; not glossy
Example:
a photograph with a matte finish
Synonyms:
flat; mat; matt; matte; matted
Classified under:
Similar:
dull (emitting or reflecting very little light)
Derivation:
flatness (the property of having little or no contrast; lacking highlights or gloss)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Having a relatively broad surface in relation to depth or thickness
Example:
flat computer monitors
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
planar; two-dimensional (involving or having two dimensions)
Derivation:
flatness (the property of having two dimensions)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Lacking the expected range or depth; not designed to give an illusion or depth
Example:
a flat two-dimensional painting
Synonyms:
2-dimensional; flat; two-dimensional
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
multidimensional (having or involving or marked by several dimensions or aspects)
Derivation:
flatness (a want of animation or brilliance)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Having a surface without slope, tilt in which no part is higher or lower than another
Example:
skirts sewn with fine flat seams
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
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 6
Meaning:
Lacking contrast or shading between tones
Classified under:
Adjectives
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 7
Meaning:
Horizontally level
Example:
a flat roof
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
horizontal (parallel to or in the plane of the horizon or a base line)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Stretched out and lying at full length along the ground
Example:
found himself lying flat on the floor
Synonyms:
flat; prostrate
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unerect (not upright in position or posture)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch
Example:
the owl's faint monotonous hooting
Synonyms:
flat; monotone; monotonic; monotonous
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unmodulated (characterized by lack of variation in pitch, tone, or volume)
Derivation:
flatness (a want of animation or brilliance)
Sense 10
Meaning:
(of a musical note) lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitone
Example:
B flat
Classified under:
Adjectives
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 11
Meaning:
Not modified or restricted by reservations
Example:
a flat refusal
Synonyms:
categoric; categorical; flat; unconditional
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unqualified (not limited or restricted)
Sense 12
Meaning:
Having lost effervescence
Example:
a flat cola
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
noneffervescent (not effervescent)
Sense 13
Meaning:
Lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting
Example:
a flat joke
Synonyms:
bland; flat
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unexciting; unstimulating (not stimulating)
Derivation:
flatness (a want of animation or brilliance)
Sense 14
Meaning:
Lacking taste or flavor or tang
Example:
vapid tea
Synonyms:
bland; flat; flavorless; flavourless; insipid; savorless; savourless; vapid
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
tasteless (lacking flavor)
Derivation:
flatness (a deficiency in flavor)
Sense 15
Meaning:
Flattened laterally along the whole length (e.g., certain leafstalks or flatfishes)
Synonyms:
compressed; flat
Classified under:
Adjectives
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)
III. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
In a forthright manner; candidly or frankly
Example:
came out flat for less work and more pay
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Sense 2
Meaning:
With flat sails
Example:
sail flat against the wind
Classified under:
Context examples:
A flat, red area on the skin of patients who have mycosis fungoides.
(Mycosis fungoides patch, NCI Dictionary)
The most common type of paranasal sinus and nasal cavity cancer is squamous cell carcinoma (cancer that begins in flat cells lining these tissues and cavities).
(Nasal Cavity and Paranasal Sinus Carcinoma, NCI Dictionary)
Most nasopharyngeal cancers are squamous cell carcinomas (cancer that begins in flat cells lining the nasopharynx).
(Nasopharyngeal cancer, NCI Dictionary)
The affected area of the skin is flat and reddish-purplish in color.
(Nevus Flammeus, NCI Thesaurus)
USDA Red is a semi-flat type of spinach with a medium growth rate and semi-erect leaves.
(World's First True Red Spinach Variety Released, U.S. Department of Agriculture)
These are usually papillary or micropapillary, however, they may rarely be flat.
(Mouse Pancreatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia-3, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)
They can be flat or raised.
(Moles, NIH: National Cancer Institute)
There is considerable histologic overlap between non-neoplastic flat hyperplastic lesions and flat neoplastic lesions without atypia.
(Mouse Pancreatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia-1A, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)
These mucinous epithelial lesions may be flat or papillary.
(Mouse Pancreatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia-2, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)
Viewed from the side, the galaxy would appear relatively flat, with most of the material in a disk and the central regions.
(Stars Found Far from Galaxy Center, JPL/NASA)
