as in dies
to stop living
the patient was fading fast, and doctors expected him to flatline before the night was over
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Recent Examples of flatlines
Take women out of the equation, and middle-class income essentially flatlines for four decades.
—
Katica Roy, Fortune, 21 Apr. 2026
Every time the plot hits the reset button, the tension flatlines.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2025
Fanning flatlines when left to be a solo show as Bertino whacks her around like a pinball, hitting big, loud scares that seem to keep resetting.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 11 Oct. 2025
Once front-line teams stop trusting the data—or can't see how the tools help their day-to-day—the adoption curve flatlines.
—Andy Watts, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
Katica Roy, Fortune, 21 Apr. 2026
Every time the plot hits the reset button, the tension flatlines.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2025
Fanning flatlines when left to be a solo show as Bertino whacks her around like a pinball, hitting big, loud scares that seem to keep resetting.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 11 Oct. 2025
Once front-line teams stop trusting the data—or can't see how the tools help their day-to-day—the adoption curve flatlines.
—Andy Watts, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flatlines
Verb
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Own a $1 million condo and your spouse dies?—
Greg Raiff,
Fortune,
16 May 2026
-
If every truth that creates legal complexity dies on contact, people stop raising anything that might trigger those functions at all.—
Vibhas Ratanjee,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
Verb
-
Chelsea’s squad demographic falls somewhere in between but is probably closer to the former than the latter, and a football legend with his resume should not encounter the authority problems faced by owner BlueCo’s previous hires.—
Liam Twomey,
New York Times,
17 May 2026
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And that’s why—but that doesn’t make sense because the money falls from the ceiling.—
Glenn Garner,
Deadline,
16 May 2026
Verb
-
Every soldier Harry would have saved on a transport during the war perishes too.—
Margaret Heidenry,
Vanity Fair,
24 Dec. 2025
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Factory ships deplete fisheries in a matter of years and an inordinate amount of sea life also perishes in their nets.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
12 Aug. 2025
Verb
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In the May 10 episode of Marshals, Kayce (Luke Grimes) and Cal (Logan Marshall-Green) lose another of their former Navy SEAL teammates, as Garrett (Riley Green) succumbs to his injuries from a fire.—
Julia Moore,
PEOPLE,
11 May 2026
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Inspired by a drawing made by his nephew, the work unfolds as a sequence of panels in which the titular child, Julian, succumbs to illness.—
Emilie Hardman,
JSTOR Daily,
6 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Flatlines.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flatlines. Accessed 18 May. 2026.
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