ballet flat

noun

plural ballet flats

1

: a slip-on shoe having a very low flat heel or no heel and resembling a ballet slipper

Ballet flats are elegant and minimalist, but that doesn't mean they're boring. A classic leather ballet flat is a must-have component of any capsule wardrobe …

—Morgan Halberg

2

: ballet slipper sense 1

Downstairs, in the young women's class, the only break that students have is for changing from ballet flats into toe shoes before taking up positions at the bar.

—Ann Geracimos

Word History

First Known Use

1936, in the meaning defined at sense 1