different between puncture vs flatten

English

Etymology

From Late Latin punct?ra.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??kt??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p??kt??/
• Hyphenation: punc?ture

Noun

puncture (plural punctures)

1. The act or an instance of puncturing.
2. A hole, cut, or tear created by a sharp object.
   • January 12, 1752, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler

     The lion may perish by the puncture of an asp.

3. (specifically) A hole in a vehicle's tyre, causing the tyre to deflate.

   Synonyms: (informal US) flat, (UK) flat tyre

   • 2001, Ken Follett, Jackdaws, Dutton, ?ISBN, page 340,

     Dieter's car had suffered a puncture on the RN3 road between Paris and Meaux. A bent nail was stuck in the tire.

   • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

     A tough test for even the strongest climber, it was new to the Tour de France this year, but its debut will be remembered for the wrong reasons after one of those spectators scattered carpet tacks on the road and induced around 30 punctures among the group of riders including Bradley Wiggins, the Tour's overall leader, and his chief rivals.

Derived terms

• puncturer

Translations

Verb

puncture (third-person singular simple present punctures, present participle puncturing, simple past and past participle punctured)

1. To pierce; to break through; to tear a hole.

Derived terms

• acupuncture
• aquapuncture
• colorpuncture
• electropuncture
• laserpuncture
• punctured interval
• punctured neighborhood

Translations

Latin

Participle

p?nct?re

1. vocative masculine singular of p?nct?rus

English

Etymology

From flat +? -en.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?flæt?n/
• Rhymes: -æt?n

Verb

flatten (third-person singular simple present flattens, present participle flattening, simple past and past participle flattened)

1. (transitive) To make something flat or flatter.

2. (reflexive) To press one's body tightly against a surface, such as a wall or floor, especially in order to avoid being seen or harmed.
3. (transitive) To knock down or lay low.

4. (intransitive) To become flat or flatter; to plateau.

5. (intransitive) To be knocked down or laid low.
6. (music) To lower by a semitone.
7. To make vapid or insipid; to render stale.
8. (programming, transitive) To reduce (a data structure) to one that has fewer dimensions, e.g. a 2×2 array into a list of four elements.
9. (computer graphics, transitive) To combine (separate layers) into a single image.

Translations