flatline
Britishverb
-
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
-
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
Electricity generated from fossil fuels is forecast to flatline or even decline slightly this year, according to the think tank Ember, for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.
From BBC ● Nov. 12, 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 Guy L. Steele
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
