flattened; flattening
ˈflat-niŋ 
ˈfla-tə-
: to make flat
flatten the dough into a disk
The dog flattened its ears.
: such as
a
: to make level or smooth
flattened the papers
b
: to knock down
houses flattened by the tornado
also
: to defeat decisively
got flattened in the first round of playoffs
c
: to make dull or uninspired
… small changes … that flatten a writer's style …—
John Gross
—often used with outJohn GrossIn thus flattening out a complicated story, the book misses an opportunity …—Tony Judt
Tony Judt
d
: to make lusterless
flatten paint
e
: to stabilize especially at a lower level
a candidate promising to flatten interest rates
: to become flat or flatter: such as
a
: to become dull or spiritless
b
: to extend in or into a flat position or form
c
: to become uniform or stabilized often at a new lower level
—usually used with out
prices flattening out
Examples of flatten in a Sentence
Dozens of houses were flattened by the tornado.
The boxer was flattened in the seventh round.
The team got flattened in the first round of the play-offs.
Prices are expected to flatten after the holiday shopping season.
Recent Examples on the Web
There is no sign of an asteroid heading to earth anything like the one that exploded over Siberia on June 30, 1908, flattening 500,00 acres.
—Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 3 Jan. 2026
But the top 20 pieces — 10 free, 10 behind our STAT+ paywall — are more interesting and revealing than that list, with each story adding important nuance and personal voices to debates often flattened into pro or con.
—Torie Bosch, STAT, 31 Dec. 2025
Confronting such dramatic mutations requires interpretive and historical learning and the willingness to perceive politics as a dense field of meanings, not something to be flattened into numbers or variables on a graph.
—Jason Blakely, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
In 2026, a number of new export facilities on the US Gulf Coast will come online or ramp up, competing with new terminals in Australia, Qatar, and elsewhere for market share that — in China and Europe at least — has already started to flatten.
—Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 30 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for flatten
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 3 Jan. 2026
But the top 20 pieces — 10 free, 10 behind our STAT+ paywall — are more interesting and revealing than that list, with each story adding important nuance and personal voices to debates often flattened into pro or con.
—Torie Bosch, STAT, 31 Dec. 2025
Confronting such dramatic mutations requires interpretive and historical learning and the willingness to perceive politics as a dense field of meanings, not something to be flattened into numbers or variables on a graph.
—Jason Blakely, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
In 2026, a number of new export facilities on the US Gulf Coast will come online or ramp up, competing with new terminals in Australia, Qatar, and elsewhere for market share that — in China and Europe at least — has already started to flatten.
—Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 30 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for flatten
Cite this Entry
“Flatten.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flatten. Accessed 5 Jan. 2026.
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