fall flat

Idioms  

1. Fail, prove to be ineffective, as in His jokes nearly always fell flat—no one ever laughed at them. [First half of 1800s]

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Example Sentences

Big hospital systems have become the proving ground for widespread AI adoption, testing what the technology can do, but also revealing—sometimes via alarming mishaps—where it falls flat.

From The Wall Street Journal

Consumer spending fell flat in October, but that was largely due to one number: weak car sales.

From Barron's

Even if that message weren’t profoundly weird, dramatically it falls flat, despite Estelle trying to tie it up with a positive final message: “The opposite of trauma is hope.”

From Los Angeles Times

Holt and Swindells make a winning professional team, though the movie falls flat when it forces a romance between the pair.

From Los Angeles Times

Efforts in other countries to subsidize child-rearing and boost fertility have largely fallen flat.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• bump
• collapse
• collide
• ditch
• dive
• drop
• hurtle
• meet
• overturn
• plunge
• slip
• smash
• topple
• tumble