flatware

[ flat-wair ]
See synonyms for flatware on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. utensils, as knives, forks, and spoons, used at the table for serving and eating food.

  2. dishes or containers for the table that are more or less flat, as plates and saucers (distinguished from hollowware).

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Origin of flatware

1
First recorded in 1850–55; flat1 + ware1

Words Nearby flatware

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use flatware in a sentence

  • Melanie walked past the table that had been set for two with fancy china and flatware and out to the Truman Balcony.

    Meet the First Female President | Nicolle Wallace | October 17, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Little of this, understandably, was likely to have been thrown away or lost, except for an occasional piece of flatware.

  • He frequently decorated his flatware with a refined etching or gravure, his hollow ware with reeding.

    Seaport in Virginia | Gay Montague Moore
  • His flatware is usually distinguished by a shell motif, and gadroon edges finish and decorate many of his pieces.

    Seaport in Virginia | Gay Montague Moore
  • She loved the flatware—it always made her think of a wedding—sometimes of her own.

    Ptomaine Street | Carolyn Wells
  • She reveled in the white tiles, the white gloss paint, the eternal clearing-up and the clatter of flatware.

    Ptomaine Street | Carolyn Wells

British Dictionary definitions for flatware

flatware

/ (ˈflætˌwɛə) /


nounUS and Canadian
  1. cutlery

  2. any relatively flat tableware such as plates, saucers, etc: Compare hollowware

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012