different between flat vs ordinary

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

• ordinarie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman ordenarie, ordenaire et al., Middle French ordinaire, and their source, Medieval Latin ordinarius, noun use of Latin ?rdin?rius (“regular, orderly”), from ?rd? (“order”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???d?n??i/, /???d?n?i/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???d?n??i/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /???d?n?(?)?i/
• Hyphenation: or?di?na?ry, or?din?ary

Noun

ordinary (plural ordinaries)

1. A person with authority; authority, ordinance.
   1. (ecclesiastical, law) A person having immediate jurisdiction in a given case of ecclesiastical law, such as the bishop within a diocese. [from 14th c.]
   2. (obsolete) A devotional manual; a book setting our rules for proper conduct. [15th–17th c.]
   3. (obsolete) A courier; someone delivering mail or post. [16th–19th c.]
      • 1819, Lord Byron, Letter, 15 May:

        I […] will lay to till you come within hail […] but pray respond by the first ordinary.

   4. (Christianity) A rule, or book of rules, prescribing the order of service, especially of Mass. [from 16th c.]
   5. (law) A judge with the authority to deal with cases himself or herself rather than by delegation. [from 17th c.]
   6. (now historical) The chaplain of Newgate prison, who prepared condemned prisoners for death. [from 17th c.]
      • 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford 2008, p. 811:

        ‘He died with pious composure and resolution. I have just seen the Ordinary that attended him.’

2. Something ordinary or regular.
   1. (obsolete) Customary fare, one's regular daily allowance of food; (hence) a regular portion or allowance. [15th–19th c.]
   2. (now chiefly historical) A meal provided for a set price at an eating establishment. [from 16th c.]
      • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, vol II, ch. 43:

        In short, Mr. Jolter could give a very good account of the stages on the road, and […] was a connoisseur in ordinaries, from twelve to five and thirty livres […] .

      • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 169:

        Here he recommended me to fix my board, there being an excellent ordinary daily at two o'clock, at which I might dine or not as I pleased.

   3. (now archaic, historical) A place where such meals are served; a public tavern, inn. [from 16th c.]
      • , II.2.4, 1847, page 315,

        We are most part too inquisitive and apt to hearken after news, which Cæsar, in his Commentaries, observes of the old Gauls, they would be inquiring of every carrier and passenger what they had heard or seen, what news abroad? […] as at an ordinary with us, bakehouse, or barber's shop.

      • 1712, Jonathan Swift, A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue, The Works of Jonathan Swift, Volume 2, page 288,

        Thus furnished, they come up to town, reckon all their errors for accomplishments, borrow the newest set of phrases ; and if they take a pen into their hands, all the odd words they have picked up in a coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as flowers of style.

      • 1899, Bancroft, Richard Garnett, Léon Vallée, Alois Brandl (editors), The Universal Anthology, page 320,

        He enjoyed a perpetual port duty of fourteen pence a ton, on vessels not owned in the province, yielding not far from five thousand dollars a year; and he exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and peddlers and to ordinaries.

      • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p.1,

        it hath been usual with the honest and well-meaning host to provide a bill of fare which all persons may peruse at their first entrance into the house; and having thence acquainted themselves with the entertainment which they may expect, may either stay and regale with what is provided for them, or may depart to some other ordinary better accommodated to their taste.

   5. (heraldry) One of the standard geometric designs placed across the center of a coat of arms, such as a pale or fess. [from 16th c.]
   6. An ordinary person or thing; something commonplace. [from 16th c.]
      • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

        Spain had no other wars save those of the Low Countries, which were grown into an ordinary

      • water-buckets, waggons, cart-wheels, plough-socks, shuttles, candlesticks, and other ordinaries

   7. (now Scotland, Ireland) The usual course of things; normal condition or health; a standard way of behaviour or action. [from 16th c.]
      • 1622, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 5, 1800, The Plays of William Shakspeare, Volume 8, page 287,

        I ?ee no more in you than in the ordinary / Of nature's ?alework.

   8. (now historical) A penny-farthing bicycle. [from 19th c.]

Translations

Adjective

ordinary (comparative more ordinary, superlative most ordinary)

1. (law, of a judge) Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases.
2. Being part of the natural order of things; normal, customary, routine.
   • a. 1719, Joseph Addison, 1741, The Works of the Late Honourable Joseph Addison, E?q., Volume 3, page 545,

     Method is not le?s requi?ite in ordinary conver?ation than in writing, provided a man would talk to make him?elf under?tood.

3. Having no special characteristics or function; everyday, common, mundane; often deprecatory.
   • a. 1859, Thomas Macaulay, "Samuel Johnson," in 1871, Lady Trevelyan (Hannah More Macaulay Trevelyan, editor), The Works of Lord Macaulay Complete, Volume 7, page 325,

     An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no useful knowledge in such a way: but much that was dull to ordinary lads was interesting to Samuel.
4. (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, informal) Bad or undesirable.
   • 1983 September 20, Bruce Stannard, Australia II Joins Our Greats, The Age, republished 2003, David Headon (editor), The Best Ever Australian Sports Writing: A 200 Year Collection, page 480,

     It was, in some ways a sad, almost pathetic sight to see this great American boat which had fought so hard throughout the cup summer, now looking very ordinary indeed.

   • 1961, Joanna White, quoted in 2005, A. James Hammerton, Alistair Thomson, Ten Pound Poms: Australia?s Invisible Migrants, page 80,

     For myself, I loved adventure and travelling. I?d already done quite a bit of travelling in Europe and — couldn?t get enough of it and whilst my marriage, at that stage, was very happy, he was very entrenched as a Londoner, Cockney, absolutely Cockney Londoner, and I could see that our future was pretty ordinary and so my hidden agenda I suppose was to drag him out to Australia and hope that both our lifestyles would improve and there would be new opportunities.

   • 2007, Chris Viner-Smith, Australia?s Forgotten Frontier: The Unsung Police Who Held Our PNG Front Line, page 28,

     Everyone started making suggestions as to what to do but they were all pretty ordinary ideas such as lighting a fire and hope someone would see the smoke and come to rescue us and so on.

   • 2010, Mal Bryce, Australia's First Online Community Ipswich Queensland, page 125,

     Since the general public gained access to the Internet in 1993-4, firstly by narrowband dial-up access and since 1998 by very ordinary, so-called broadband speeds (generally less than 1 Mbps), a social and cultural revolution has been underway.

Antonyms

• (having no special characteristics): extraordinary, special

Derived terms

• ordinarily, ordinariness
• ordinary differential equation, ordinary number, ordinary seaman
• in ordinary
• out of the ordinary

Translations

Further reading

• "ordinary" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 225.