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flat out

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flat out

  • /ˌflæt ˈaʊt/
  • /ˈflæt ˌaʊt/

adjective flat-out

  1. not comparable Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see flat, out. So many of them took pictures, of themselves and of me, that we ran flat out of black-and-white film the second day out, and there wasn′t a Queen Mary necktie to be had in the shops after we left the port.
  2. not comparable Complete, total, downright. Avoid Flat-Out Opposites The slob vs. the neatnik. The artist vs. the precision-freak. The freethinker vs. the tightass. Liberal vs. conservative. Jock vs. nerd. David vs. Goliath. Good vs. evil. Beauty and the Beast. Jekyll^([sic]) and Hyde.
  3. not comparable Very busy. I know we are all flat out. That is the way it is. We are flat out, and it becomes a way of life.
  4. Australia, not comparable Lazy, sleeping. flat out (like a lizard in the sun) - doing absolutely nothing

adverb flat-out

  1. idiomatic, not comparable At top speed. After 10 minutes of running flat out, he was out of breath.
  2. idiomatic, not comparable Without hesitation or reservation, bluntly, no holds barred, totally, outright. She thought it was best to tell him she didn't love him flat out.

noun flat outs · flat-out

  1. US, dated A total failure.
  2. A baked portion of flatbread; a baked item that is not meant to rise. His hands were of the same somber hue as the bare feet of the children who clustered near the table, looking toward it whistfully^([sic]) until the eldest mustered sufficient courage to ask his mother for "one of 'em yere flat-outs."
  3. A wrap, an item of food consisting of various ingredients wrapped in a tortilla or pancake.
  4. A section of piste that is relatively flat, causing or allowing skiers to slow down. The would-be daredevils are mercifully prevented from going too fast by strategically placed flat-outs.
  5. An uncambered corner of racetrack; a racetrack whose corners are uncambered. The circuit is very well endowed with corners of all sorts from hairpins to flat-outs, has a 1,540-yd. straight and measures 5.2 miles, partly on an airfield, partly through a built-up area.

verb flats out · flatting out · flatted out · flat-out

  1. intransitive To fail after a promising beginning; to disappoint expectations. 1894, Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer Abroad, 2015, Tom Sawyer Collection: All Four Books, Enhanced Media, page 413, I see myself there warn't no sense in the tale, to chop square off that way before it come to anything, but I warn't going to say so, because I could see Tom was souring up pretty fast over th
  2. archaic, transitive Synonym of flatten out (to make flat)

    Similar: flatten out

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MLA

"flat out." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/flat%20out. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

flat out. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/flat%20out

Chicago

"flat out." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/flat%20out.

BibTeX
@misc{flat_out_2026,
  title = {flat out},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/flat%20out},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}