different between flat vs clear

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: fl?t, IPA^(key): /flæt/
• Rhymes: -æt

Etymology 1

From Middle English flat, a borrowing from Old Norse flatr (compare Norwegian and Swedish flat, Danish flad), from Proto-Germanic *flataz, from Proto-Indo-European *pleth?- (“flat”); akin to Saterland Frisian flot (“smooth”), German Flöz (“a geological layer”), Ancient Greek ?????? (platús), Latvian plats, Sanskrit ?????? (prathas, “extension”). Doublet of plat and pleyt.

Alternative forms

• flatt, flatte (both obsolete)

Adjective

flat (comparative flatter, superlative flattest)

1. Having no variations in height.
   1. In a horizontal line or plane; not sloping.

      a flat roof

   2. Smooth; having no protrusions, indentations or other surface irregularities, or relatively so.

      The surface of the mirror must be completely flat.

      The carpet isn't properly flat in that corner.

      She has quite a flat face.
   3. (slang) Having small or invisible breasts and/or buttocks.

2. Without variation in level, quantity, value, tone etc.

   The exchange rate has been flat for several weeks.

   1. At a consistently depressed level; consistently lacklustre.

      Sales have been flat all year, and we've barely broken even.

   2. (not comparable, commerce) Of fees, fares etc., fixed; unvarying.

   3. (music, voice) Without variations in pitch.

      He delivered the speech in a flat tone.

   4. (of colours) Without variation in tone or hue; uniform.

      The walls were painted a flat gray.

3. (figuratively) Lacking liveliness or action; depressed; uninteresting; dull and boring.
   • February 16, 1833, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk

     A large part of the work is, to me, very flat.
   1. (authorship, figuratively, especially of a character) Lacking in depth, substance, or believability; underdeveloped; one-dimensional.

      Antonym: round

4. (music, note) Lowered by one semitone.
5. (music) Of a note or voice, lower in pitch than it should be.

6. Absolute; downright; peremptory.
   • c. 1598, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act IV, Scene 2,^[2]

     SECOND WATCH. Marry, that he had received a thousand ducats of Don John for accusing the Lady Hero wrongfully.

     DOGBERRY. Flat burglary as ever was committed

   • 1602, John Marston, Antonio and Mellida, Malone Society Reprint, 1921, Act I, lines 324-326,^[3]

     He is made like a tilting staffe; and lookes

     For all the world like an ore-rosted pigge:

     A great Tobacco taker too, thats flat.

7. (of a tire or other inflated object) Deflated, especially because of a puncture.
8. (of a carbonated drink) With all or most of its carbon dioxide having come out of solution so that the drink no longer fizzes or contains any bubbles.
9. (wine) Lacking acidity without being sweet.
10. (of a battery) Unable to emit power; dead.
11. (juggling, of a throw) Without spin; spinless.
12. (phonetics, dated, of a consonant) sonant; vocal, as distinguished from a sharp (non-sonant) consonant
13. (grammar) Not having an inflectional ending or sign, such as a noun used as an adjective, or an adjective as an adverb, without the addition of a formative suffix; or an infinitive without the sign "to".

14. (golf, of a golf club) Having a head at a very obtuse angle to the shaft.
15. (horticulture, of certain fruits) Flattening at the ends.
16. (of measurements of time) Exact.

    He finished the race in a flat four minutes.

Synonyms

• (having no variations in altitude): even, planar, plane, smooth, uniform
• (without variations in pitch): monotone
• (uninteresting): boring, dull, uninteresting; see also Thesaurus:boring
• (deflated): deflated, punctured
• (of a carbonated drink: no longer fizzes): still, unfizzy; see also Thesaurus:noneffervescent
• (of wine: lacking acidity): flabby

Antonyms

• (having no variations in altitude): bumpy, cratered, hilly (of terrain), rough (of a surface), wrinkled (of a surface)
• (music: lowered by one semitone): sharp
• (music: lower in pitch than it should be): sharp

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adverb

flat (comparative more flat, superlative most flat)

1. So as to be flat.

2. Bluntly.

3. (of accurately measured timings) Exactly, precisely.

   In the mile race, Smith's time was 3:58.56, and Brown's was four minutes flat.

4. (with units of time, distance, etc) Used to emphasize the smallness of the measurement.

5. Completely.

6. Directly; flatly.

   • Sin is flat opposite to the Almighty.

7. (finance, slang) Without allowance for accrued interest.

   The bonds are trading flat.

Synonyms

• (so as to be flat):
• (bluntly): bluntly, curtly
• (not exceeding): tops
• (completely): absolutely, completely, utterly

Translations

Noun

flat (plural flats)

1. An area of level ground.

   The hovercraft skimmed across the open flats.

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Envy

     Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a flat.
   1. (in the phrase 'the flat') Level ground in general.

      I can run on the flat but not up hills.

      The going will be easier once we're through these mountains and onto the flat.

   2. (horse racing, with 'the' or attributively, sometimes with capital) Level horse-racing ground, as contrasted with courses incorporating jumps, or the racing done on such ground.

      This horse will do better over the flat.

      flat racing, the flat season

      • 2020, Brian Sheerin, Racing Post, "Gordon Elliott maps out summer Flat campaigns for talented jumpers" (article) [4]

        In light of Horse Racing Ireland's Covid-19 contingency plan announcement, that whenever racing resumes the Flat will be given priority, Elliott has decided to keep a number of talented jumpers on the go during the summer, with a view towards a dual-purpose campaign.

      • 2021 (retrieved), racing365.com, "Flat Racing Explained" [5]

        In British horse racing, the classics are a series of horse races run over the flat (i.e. without jumps).

3. (music) A note played a semitone lower than a natural, denoted by the symbol ? placed after the letter representing the note (e.g., B?) or in front of the note symbol (e.g. ??).

   The key of E? has three flats.

4. (informal, automotive) A flat tyre/tire.
   • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

     The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent.

5. (in the plural) A type of ladies' shoe with a very low heel.

6. (in the plural) A type of flat-soled running shoe without spikes.
7. (painting) A thin, broad brush used in oil and watercolour painting.
8. The flat part of something:
   1. (swordfighting) The flat side of a blade, as opposed to the sharp edge.
   2. The palm of the hand, with the adjacent part of the fingers.
9. A wide, shallow container or pallet.

10. (mail) A large mail piece measuring at least 8 1/2 by 11 inches, such as catalogs, magazines, and unfolded paper enclosed in large envelopes.
11. (rail transport, US) A railroad car without a roof, and whose body is a platform without sides; a platform car or flatcar.
12. A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught.
13. (geometry) A subset of n-dimensional space that is congruent to a Euclidean space of lower dimension.
14. A straw hat, broad-brimmed and low-crowned.
15. A flat sheet for use on a bed.
    • 1986, New York Magazine (volume 19, number 49, page 20)

      You might think that Americans buy roughly the same number of fitted sheets as flats. Or, considering the market for electric blankets, duvets, and other covers, that consumers buy even more bottom sheets, simply forgoing the tops.

16. (publishing) A flat, glossy children's book with few pages.
    • 1970, The Publishers Weekly (volume 197, page 85)

      This same publisher notes pricing is a crucial factor in the mass market field of $1, $1.95 and $2.95 "flats."

17. A platform on a wheel, upon which emblematic designs etc. are carried in processions.
18. (mining) A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal.
19. (technical, theatre) A rectangular wooden structure covered with masonite, lauan, or muslin that depicts a building or other part of a scene, also called backcloth and backdrop.
20. (entomology) Any of various hesperiid butterflies that spread their wings open when they land.
21. (historical) An early kind of toy soldier having a flat design.
    • 2019, Luigi Toiati, The History of Toy Soldiers (page 78)

      Among the many US museums hosting flats, we may mention the Toy Soldier Museum in the Pocono Mountains, supervised by the historian, collector and dealer J. Hillestad.

22. (obsolete) A dull fellow; a simpleton.
    • 1836, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., "The Music-Grinders":

      ... if you cannot make a speech,

      Because you are a flat,

      Go very quietly and drop

      A button in the hat!

    • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 14:

      "He fancies he can play at billiards," said he. "I won two hundred of him at the Cocoa-Tree. HE play, the young flat! ..."

23. Short for flat ride (“spinning amusement ride”).

Antonyms

• (note): sharp
• (shoes): high heels

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

flat (third-person singular simple present flats, present participle flatting, simple past and past participle flatted)

1. (poker slang) To make a flat call; to call without raising.
2. (intransitive) To become flat or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface.
3. (intransitive, music, colloquial) To fall from the pitch.
4. (transitive, music) To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone.
5. (transitive, dated) To make flat; to flatten; to level.
   • 1764, James Granger, M.D., The Sugar-Cane: a Poem. In Four Books. With Notes. Book 1, page 44, note to verse 605.

6. (transitive, dated) To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress.
   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Danger and Mischief of Delaying Repentance (sermon)

     Passions are allayed, appetites are flatted.

Etymology 2

From 1795, alteration of Scots flet (“inner part of a house”), from Middle English flet (“dwelling”), from Old English flet, flett (“ground floor, dwelling”), from Proto-Germanic *flatj? (“floor”), from Proto-Germanic *flataz (“flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleth?- (“flat”). Akin to Old Frisian flet, flette (“dwelling, house”). More at flet, flat₁.

Noun

flat (plural flats)

2. (chiefly Britain, New England, New Zealand and Australia, archaic elsewhere) An apartment, usually on one level and usually consisting of more than one room.
   • 1905, Sydney Perks, Residential flats of all classes, including artisans' dwellings: a practical treatise on their planning and arrangement, together with chapters on their history, financial matters, etc.,with numerous illustrations, page 204,

     The excellence of French flats is so well known in America, that the owner will often refer to his property as "first class French flats."

   • 1983, Tai Ching Ling, Relocation and Population Planning: A Study of the Implications of Public Housing and Family Planning in Singapore, Wilfredo F. Arce, Gabriel C. Alvarez (editors), Population Change in Southeast Asia, page 184,

     Fifteen percent of this group said that they were not satisfied with the public housing estates and their HDB^{[Singapore Housing & Development Board]} flats (see Tables 11 and 12 respectively).

   • 2002, MIchael Ottley, Briefcase on Company Law, page 76,

     The Greater London Council formed the Estmanco company to manage a block of 60 council-owned flats. The council entered into an agreement with the company to sell off the flats to owner-occupiers.

   • 2014, Terry Gourvish, Dolphin Square: The History of a Unique Building, page 75,

     When the Dolphin Square's flats were first offered to the public in 1936, the South Block was still under construction, and the North Block was a building site.

Synonyms

• (apartment): apartment

Derived terms

• block of flats
• coldwater flat
• flatlet
• flatmate
• flatter

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English flatten, from Old French flatir (“to knock or strike down, dash”).

Verb

flat (third-person singular simple present flats, present participle flatting, simple past and past participle flatted)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To beat or strike; pound
2. (transitive) To dash or throw
3. (intransitive) To dash, rush

Derived terms

• flatter (“hammer”)

References

Anagrams

• falt

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English flat.

Pronunciation

• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /?fl?t/
• (Belgium) IPA^(key): /?fl?t/
• (Hollandic)
• Hyphenation: flat
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

flat m (plural flats, diminutive flatje n)

1. flat, apartment
2. tower block

Derived terms

• galerijflat
• flatgebouw
• torenflat

Latin

Verb

flat

1. third-person singular present active indicative of fl?

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse flatr

Adjective

flat (neuter singular flatt, definite singular and plural flate, comparative flatere, indefinite superlative flatest, definite superlative flateste)

1. flat

Derived terms

• flatbrystet

References

• “flat” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse flatr

Adjective

flat (neuter singular flatt, definite singular and plural flate, comparative flatare, indefinite superlative flatast, definite superlative flataste)

1. flat

References

• “flat” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fl??t/

Verb

fl?t

1. first/third-person singular preterite of fl?tan

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

flat m (genitive singular flat, plural flataichean)

1. saucer
2. flat, apartment

Mutation

Synonyms

• (saucer): sàsar

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse flatr, from Proto-Germanic *flataz, from Proto-Indo-European *plat- (“flat”).

Adjective

flat (comparative flatare, superlative flatast)

1. flat (having no variations in altitude)

   Solen reflekterades i spegelns flata yta.

   The sun was reflected in the flat surface of the mirror.

2. spineless, being a doormat, abstaining from defending one's convictions

   Han var alldeles för flat mot chefen, och fick inte heller någon löneökning.

   He let the manager walk all over him and did not get a raise.

Declension

Synonyms

• (flat): platt
• (spineless): eftergiven, mjäkig

Anagrams

• -falt, falt

English

Alternative forms

• CLR (contraction used in electronics)

Etymology

From Middle English clere, from Anglo-Norman cler, from Old French cler (Modern French clair), from Latin clarus. Displaced native Middle English schir (“clear, pure”) (from Old English sc?r (“clear, bright”)), Middle English skere (“clear, sheer”) (from Old English sc?re and Old Norse sk?r (“sheer, clear, pure”)), Middle English smolt (“clear (of mind), serene”) (from Old English smolt (“peaceful, serene”)). Cognate with Danish klar, Dutch klaar, French clair, German klar, Italian chiaro, Norwegian klar, Portuguese claro, Romanian clar, Spanish claro, and Swedish klar.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kl??(?)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kl??/
• Rhymes: -??(r)

Adjective

clear (comparative clearer, superlative clearest)

1. Transparent in colour.

2. Bright, not dark or obscured.

3. Free of obstacles.
4. Without clouds.

   • Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.

5. (meteorology) Of the sky, such that less than one eighth of its area is obscured by clouds.
6. Free of ambiguity or doubt.
7. Distinct, sharp, well-marked.

   Synonym: conspicuous

8. (figuratively) Free of guilt, or suspicion.
9. (of a soup) Without a thickening ingredient.
10. Possessing little or no perceptible stimulus.

11. (Scientology) Free from the influence of engrams; see Clear (Scientology).
    • 1971, Leonard Cohen, "Famous Blue Raincoat":

      Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair. She said that you gave it to her that night that you planned to go clear. Did you ever go clear?

12. Able to perceive clearly; keen; acute; penetrating; discriminating.
13. Not clouded with passion; serene; cheerful.

    • with a countenance as clear / As friendship wears at feasts

14. Easily or distinctly heard; audible.
    • c. 1708, Alexander Pope “Ode On St. Cecilia's Day”:

      Hark! the numbers, soft and clear / Gently steal upon the ear

15. Unmixed; entirely pure.

16. Without defects or blemishes, such as freckles or knots.
17. Without diminution; in full; net.
    • 1728, Jonathan Swift “Horace, Lib. 2, Sat. 6”:

      I often wished that I had clear / For life, six hundred pounds a year

Synonyms

• (transparency): pellucid, transparent; See also Thesaurus:transparent
• (free of ambiguity or doubt): See also Thesaurus:comprehensible of Thesaurus:explicit
• (distinct): See also Thesaurus:distinct
• (easily or distinctly heard): See also Thesaurus:audible
• (unmixed): homogeneous

Antonyms

• (transparency): opaque, turbid
• (bright): See also Thesaurus:dark
• (without clouds): cloudy, nebulous; See also Thesaurus:nebulous
• (free of ambiguity or doubt): See also Thesaurus:incomprehensible and Thesaurus:confusing
• (of a soup): thick
• obscure

Hyponyms

• crystal clear

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adverb

clear (not comparable)

1. All the way; entirely.

   I threw it clear across the river to the other side.

2. Not near something or touching it.

   Stand clear of the rails, a train is coming.

3. free (or separate) from others
4. (obsolete) In a clear manner; plainly.

Translations

Verb

clear (third-person singular simple present clears, present participle clearing, simple past and past participle cleared)

1. (transitive) To remove obstructions, impediments or other unwanted items from.

   Police took two hours to clear the road.

   If you clear the table, I'll wash up.

   • “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, […].

   • 1715–8, Matthew Prior, “Alma: or, The Progre?s of the Mind” in Poems on Several Occa?ions (1741), canto III, p.297:

     Faith, Dick, I mu?t confe?s, ?tis true // (But this is only Entre Nous) // That many knotty Points there are, // Which All di?cu?s, but Few can clear.
2. (transitive) To remove (items or material) so as to leave something unobstructed or open.

   Please clear all this stuff off the table.

   The loggers came and cleared the trees.

   • 1711 November 6, Joseph Addison, The Spectator No. 215:

     […] Aristotle has brought to explain his Doctrine of Substantial Forms, when he tells us that a Statue lies hid in a Block of Marble; and that the Art of the statuary only clears away the superfluous Matter, and removes the Rubbish.

3. (intransitive) To leave abruptly; to clear off or clear out.
4. (intransitive) To become free from obstruction or obscurement; to become transparent.

5. (transitive) To eliminate ambiguity or doubt from (a matter); to clarify or resolve; to clear up.

6. (transitive) To remove from suspicion, especially of having committed a crime.
   • 1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy, Act III, scene v:

     How! Wouldst thou clear rebellion?

7. (transitive) To pass without interference; to miss.

8. (transitive, activities such as jumping or throwing) To exceed a stated mark.

9. (transitive, video games) To finish or complete (a stage, challenge, or game).

   I cleared the first level in 36 seconds.

10. (intransitive) Of a check or financial transaction, to go through as payment; to be processed so that the money is transferred.

11. (transitive, business) To earn a profit of; to net.
12. (transitive) To approve or authorise for a particular purpose or action; to give clearance to.

13. (transitive) To obtain approval or authorisation in respect of.

14. (intransitive) To obtain a clearance.

15. (transitive) To obtain permission to use (a sample of copyrighted audio) in another track.
16. To disengage oneself from incumbrances, distress, or entanglements; to become free.
    • 1613, Francis Bacon, The E??aies (second edition), essay 18: “Of Expences”:

      Be?ides, he that cleares at once will relap?e: for finding him?elfe out of ?traights, he will reuert to his cu?tomes. But hee that cleareth by degrees, induceth an habite of frugality, and gaineth as well vpon his minde, as vpon his E?tate.

17. (transitive, intransitive, sports) To hit, kick, head, punch etc. (a ball, puck) away in order to defend one's goal.
18. (transitive, computing) To reset or unset; to return to an empty state or to zero.

19. (transitive, computing) To style (an element within a document) so that it is not permitted to float at a given position.

Synonyms

• (clear a forest): stub

Derived terms

• clear away
• clear off
• clear out
• clear up
• clearance
• clearing

Translations

Noun

clear (plural clears)

1. (carpentry) Full extent; distance between extreme limits; especially; the distance between the nearest surfaces of two bodies, or the space between walls.

   a room ten feet square in the clear

2. (video games) The completion of a stage or challenge, or of the whole game.

   It took me weeks to achieve a one-credit clear (1CC).

3. (Scientology) A person who is free from the influence of engrams.
   • 1985, Rodney Stark, William Sims Bainbridge, The Future of Religion (page 269)

     Today, clear status can be conferred only by high ranking ministers of the church, and clears are not presented for examination by outsiders.

References

• clear at OneLook Dictionary Search
• clear in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• 'clare, Carle, Clare, carle, lacer, recal