flatten
Americanverb (used with object)
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flattens,
present (3rd person singular)
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flattened,
past participle, past
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flattening
present participle
verb (used without object)
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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
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flattensimple
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flattenssimple
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have flattenedperfect
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has flattenedperfect
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am flatteningprogressive
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are flatteningprogressive
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is flatteningprogressive
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have been flatteningperfect progressive
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has been flatteningperfect progressive
Past
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flattenedsimple
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had flattenedperfect
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was flatteningprogressive
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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:
His advice to chief executives is to flatten organizations, eliminate “glue people” who perform routine tasks, and focus on inventors, salespeople and leaders.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2026
Free chips briefly flatten the distinction between the appetizers-and-drinks family and the entrées-and-water family.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
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
Gartner earlier projected that by the end of 2026, one in five organizations will use AI to flatten their structure, eliminating more than half of their current middle-management positions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
I’d slide this awful story off my shoulders, flatten it, sketch out our crimes like a failed battle plan and shake it in the faces of my neighbors, who are wary of me already.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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
Sometimes it flattens the experience into palatable passive consumption.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026
“When this ratio flattens, it suggests a potential balancing of labor supply and demand,” Jefferson said, according to a published text of his remarks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
Beijing will need to organise a stimulus package to account for the loss of whole percentage points of GDP, the kind of thing that happens when a natural disaster flattens a major city.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2025
She flattens her hands on her waist-sash as if she's nursing a stomachache.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said about 2,000 residents had been displaced by the operation, which has led to at least one whole street appearing to have been flattened, according to footage shared online.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
Lam Research’s stock flattened out Friday, but it is down 16% this week after sharing a disappointing outlook that it blamed on supply-chain constraints.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
The cloud collapsed and flattened into a disk, eventually giving rise to the sun at its center and the planets that formed around it.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 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
She picked it up and flattened it out.
From "Scream for Ice Cream: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #2" by Carolyn Keene
“Concerns over AI-related stocks and rising energy prices have driven a rotation into bonds, lowering long-end yields and flattening the curve,” the chief U.S. dollar and euro rates strategist says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
This flattening is a problem for market values of mortgage-backed securities because it pushes down expectations for long-term interest rates.
From MarketWatch ● 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
But when Ivan's stone hit it, it bellowed out a sound like an avalanche of rocks and snow flattening a mountain forest.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
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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.
