flat tire
Americannoun
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a pneumatic tire that has lost all or most of its air through leakage, puncture, or the like.
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Older Slang. a dull or socially inept person.
Etymology
Origin of flat tire
First recorded in 1920–25
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It's not like you can drive your car down the road, get a flat tire, pull over, fix it and keep going.
From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026
We also help each other out if anything goes wrong—a flat tire or something.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 12, 2025
A man who stopped his car with a flat tire near San Rafael in 1936 ran across what he thought was a piece of scrap metal, about 5 by 8 inches, covered in curious writing.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2025
He’s disarmingly earnest, the kind of guy who’d offer to help you fix a flat tire in a snowstorm.
From Salon • May 22, 2024
She explains to José that they have a flat tire and must go back down the road to the big house.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
