flatline
Britishverb
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to die or be so near death that the display of one's vital signs on medical monitoring equipment shows a flat line rather than peaks and troughs
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to remain at a continuous low level
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.
You’re going up, up, up, and then you flatline.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 18, 2026
As of Monday’s close, the stock was down 56% over the past 12 months, dragged down by fears that demand for its weight-loss drugs could flatline.
From Barron's • Feb. 24, 2026
And revenue from both of these is trending down, causing the economy to flatline in 2025.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 15, 2026
Sainsbury's has forecast that shop profits will flatline or fall in the coming year as the supermarket sector gears up for a price war.
From BBC • Apr. 17, 2025
Additionally, the jargon terms cowboy, cyberspace, de-rezz, go flatline, ice, phage, virus, wetware, wirehead, and worm originated in SF stories.
From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Steele, Guy L.
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.
