flat-footed
English · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
flat-footed¹
- /ˌflætˈfʊtɪd/ UK
- /ˈflætˌfʊtəd/ US
- /ˌflætˈfʊtəd/ US
- [-ɾəd] US
Rhymes with (one pronunciation) -ʊtɪd
Where it comes from
From flat (adjective) + footed (adjective).
adjective more flat-footed · most flat-footed
- Of an animal: having feet which are naturally flat; (specifically) of a horse: having hoofs with soles close to the ground. Bears are flat-footed animals.
- Of a person: having the physical condition of flat feet (“a condition where the soles of the feet are in full contact with the ground, either because the arches have collapsed or because they never developed”). [T]he volunteer from the 9th company was shot because he wouldn't advance and made the excuse that he had swollen legs and was flat-footed.
- Of a thing (especially (rail transport) a rail): having a flat base; flat-bottomed. These rails, […] were of the "fish-bellied" pattern, but in practice, and as the demand increased, these were found troublesome to roll, and this difficulty led to the introduction of the flat-bottomed or "flat-footed" section of rail, combining a solid head with a flanged base.
-
Blunt and unsubtle; lacking finesse; clumsy.
The thing made a big stir in the town, too, and a good many come out flat-footed and said it was scandalous to separate the mother and the children that way.
Similar: maladroit
- Unprepared, unready. They were caught flat-footed when Clancy filed to enter the race.
- Direct, downright, straightforward; also, holding firmly to and maintaining a decision; standing one's ground. Now, you need'nt talk 'bout your shoes, kase you see I'm barefooted, I haint got no shoes, tis true, but I stand flat-footed and damn the man who can move me one inch—do you hear that Wolfe!
flat-footed²
- /ˌflætˈfʊtɪd/ UK
- /ˈflætˌfʊtəd/ US
- /ˌflætˈfʊtəd/ US
- [-ɾəd] US
Rhymes with (one pronunciation) -ʊtɪd
Where it comes from
From flat-foot + -ed (suffix forming past tense forms of regular verbs).
verb
- simple past and past participle of flat-foot
Translations
Every language
adj of an animal: having feet which are naturally flat
| Русский | плоскосто́пный ploskostópnyj |
|---|
adj of a person: having the physical condition of flat feet
| Русский | плоскосто́пный ploskostópnyj |
|---|
Talk about this word "flat-footed." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/flat-footed. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. flat-footed. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/flat-footed "flat-footed." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/flat-footed.Cite this
@misc{flat_footed_2026,
title = {flat-footed},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/flat-footed},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
