1. Having a surface without slope, tilt in which no part is higher or lower than another
   "a flat desk"; "skirts sewn with fine flat seams";
   - level, plane
    
2. Horizontally level
   "a flat roof"
    
3. Having a relatively broad surface in relation to depth or thickness
   "flat computer monitors"
    
4. Lacking the expected range or depth; not designed to give an illusion or depth
   "a flat two-dimensional painting";
   - two-dimensional, 2-dimensional
    
5. Lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting
   "a flat joke";
   - bland
    
6. Lacking taste, flavour or tang
   "a flat diet";
   - bland, flavorless [US], flavourless [Brit, Cdn], insipid, savorless [US], savourless [Brit, Cdn], vapid
    
7. Having lost effervescence
   "flat beer"; "a flat cola"
    
8. (of a musical note) lowered in pitch by one chromatic semitone
   "B flat"
    
9. Sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch
   "the owl's faint flat hooting";
   - monotone, monotonic, monotonous
    
10. (photography) lacking contrast or shading between tones
    "The flat lighting made the portrait look dull"
     
11. Not reflecting light; not glossy
    "flat wall paint";
    - mat, matt, matte, matted
     
12. Stretched out and lying at full length along the ground
    "found himself lying flat on the floor";
    - prostrate
     
13. (biology) flattened laterally along the whole length (e.g., certain leafstalks or flatfishes)
    "The compressed body of the flounder allows it to lie flat on the ocean floor"; "The flat leaves of the cactus help reduce water loss";
    - compressed
     
14. Not modified or restricted by reservations
    "a flat refusal";
    - categoric, categorical, unconditional
     
15. Commercially inactive
    "a flat market"; "flat sales for the month"; "prices remained flat"
     
16. [Brit] Drained of electric charge; discharged
    "a flat battery";
    - dead, drained

1. [Brit] A suite of rooms usually on one floor of an apartment house
   "They rented a two-bedroom flat in the city centre";
   - apartment
    
2. A level tract of land
   "the salt flats of Utah"
    
3. A musical notation indicating one half step lower than the note named
   "The piece modulated to a key with two flats"
    
4. Scenery consisting of a wooden frame covered with painted canvas; part of a stage setting
   "The stagehands quickly changed the flats between scenes"
    
5. A shallow box in which seedlings are started
   "The gardener planted tomato seeds in flats for later transplanting"
    
6. [N. Amer] Freight car without permanent sides or roof
   "They loaded lumber onto the flat";
   - flatcar [N. Amer], flatbed
    
7. [N. Amer] A deflated pneumatic tire
   "They had to change the flat tire on the side of the highway"; "He had to change the flat tyre on the side of the road";
   - flat tire [N. Amer], flat tyre [Brit], puncture

1. In a forthright manner; candidly or frankly
   "came out flat for less work and more pay";
   - directly, straight
    
2. With flat sails
   "sail flat against the wind"

1. [Austral, NZ] Live in or share an apartment
   "They've been flatting together since university"
    
2. (music) lower a note's pitch by a semitone
   "The conductor asked the violinists to flat the B in measure 16"

Derived forms: flatter, flats, flatted, flatting, flattest

See also: dull, even, horizontal, inactive, multidimensional, noneffervescent, planar, tasteless, thin, two-dimensional, uncharged, unerect, unexciting, unmodulated, unqualified, unstimulating

Type of: box, champaign [archaic], field, flatland, freight car, housing, living accommodations, lodging, musical notation, plain, pneumatic tire [N. Amer], pneumatic tyre [Brit], scene, scenery

Antonym: contrasty [informal], natural, sharp

Part of: apartment building, apartment house, mise en scène, setting, stage setting

Encyclopedia: Flat, Puy-de-Dome