flatten
Americanverb (used with object)
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flattens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
flattened,
past participle, past
-
flattening
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
flattens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
flattened,
past participle, past
-
flattening
present participle
verb phrase
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flatten out to fly into a horizontal position, as after a dive.
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flatten in flat.
verb
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(sometimes foll by out) to make or become flat or flatter
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informal (tr)
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to knock down or injure; prostrate
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to crush or subdue
failure will flatten his self-esteem
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-
Usual US word: flat. (tr) music to lower the pitch of (a note) by one chromatic semitone
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to manoeuvre an aircraft into horizontal flight, esp after a dive
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
flattensimple
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flattenssimple
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have flattenedperfect
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has flattenedperfect
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am flatteningprogressive
-
are flatteningprogressive
-
is flatteningprogressive
-
have been flatteningperfect progressive
-
has been flatteningperfect progressive
Past
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flattenedsimple
-
had flattenedperfect
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was flatteningprogressive
-
were flatteningprogressive
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had been flatteningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of flatten
Explanation
When you flatten something, you crush it or level it out. If the recycling bin is getting full, you should probably flatten all those cans you're adding to it. You might flatten the batter in a cake pan before baking it, or flatten the grass along a path through a field. If your curly hair tends to get frizzy in humid weather, you may try to flatten it before you leave for school in the morning. You also might flatten yourself against a wall if you're hiding from your friend, or describe a terrible storm this way: "The tornado managed to flatten several buildings."
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.
See Examples For:
Whether there is a physical change - or any need for one - is debatable, but fans of the massages claim they help "flatten" and "debloat" and give a "snatched waist" and "sculpted abs".
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
James C. Scott called this legibility, the way institutions flatten complicated people into categories they can manage.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
AI threatens to flatten India’s information-technology industry, one of the few reliable creators of middle-class jobs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
The researchers found that rift flanks begin to flatten relatively quickly once tectonic movement ends.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026
Kuda handed Trashman a bottle cap, and he began to flatten it with his teeth.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
The shape of the yield curve is a major driver – when it flattens, it tends to indicate 10-year yields will drop.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
The challenge will be convincing investors to finance these huge projects as oil demand flattens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
But funding a nongambler’s entrance into the gambling world as a kind of comedic protagonist not only puts the writer at risk but also flattens the seriousness of the story’s subject.
From Slate ● May 5, 2026
Sometimes it flattens the experience into palatable passive consumption.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026
She flattens her hands on her waist-sash as if she's nursing a stomachache.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Around 2010, however, that long-running trend unexpectedly flattened.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
The yield curve has flattened out over roughly the past seven months as traders on Wall Street pushed the policy-sensitive 2-year Treasury yield dramatically higher.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
On the third day, they climbed to a high point from which they could see the flattened area where his brother’s two-story residence building once stood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Pictures at the Lewes derailment have shown how the force of the train leaving the tracks had flattened trees and left a piece of track strewn across the embankment.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
With that noncommittal reply, he flattened himself and slipped under the door into the empty classroom.
From "Ralph S. Mouse" by Beverly Cleary
At first, the flattening yield curve appeared to be contributing to the sector’s weakness.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Since then, the yield curve has been flattening.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Treating scientific opinion as simply “for” or “against” risks flattening these important distinctions.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 9, 2026
To some, it may feel like Araki is flattening complex social mores and misunderstanding the anxieties behind this era of semi-celibacy.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2026
Because it is flattening and shrinking the world, Globalization 3.0 is going to be more and more driven not only by individuals but also by a much more diverse — non-Western, nonwhite—group of individuals.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
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.
