Synonyms of flattening

flattening

verb

present participle of flatten

1

as in smoothing

to make free from breaks, curves, or bumps

flattened out the wrinkled paper before attempting to trace the pattern

Synonyms & Similar Words

• smoothing
• shaving
• trimming
• raking
• planing
• evening
• leveling
• smoothening
• clipping
• laying
• paring
• cropping
• pruning
• combing
• spreading
• pressing
• surfacing
• carding

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• roughing
• roughening
• wrinkling
• bending
• pitting
• denting
• rumpling
• coarsening
• kinking

2

as in whipping

to defeat by a large margin

if you don't understand the rules, you're going to get flattened when you try to play

Synonyms & Similar Words

• whipping
• burying
• overcoming
• bombing
• trimming
• throwing
• upsetting
• dusting
• annihilating
• pasting
• smothering
• mastering
• routing
• beating
• topping
• creaming
• thrashing
• skinning
• clobbering
• taking
• destroying
• smoking
• sweeping
• whopping
• waxing
• overwhelming
• blowing away
• conquering
• scoring
• crushing
• tromping
• surpassing
• succeeding
• exceeding
• capping
• trouncing
• walloping
• whomping
• dispatching
• shellacking
• drubbing
• whupping
• eating alive
• subduing
• licking
• beating the pants off
• surmounting
• subjugating
• running circles around
• slaughtering
• finishing
• snowing under
• overthrowing
• skunking
• upending
• vanquishing
• wiping the floor with
• prevailing (over)
• transcending
• hurdling
• eclipsing
• overpowering
• besting
• winning (against)
• bettering
• outstripping
• outdistancing
• triumphing (over)
• outdoing
• outshining
• flourishing
• excelling
• knocking over
• breaking
• overtopping
• worsting
• overmatching
• knocking off
• sinking
• overbearing
• edging (out)
• pipping
• acing (out)
• outfighting
• doing in
• nosing out

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of flattening

Even then, the town still needs to prepare for a future where Neil may become three times his current size – and capable of flattening more than a traffic cone. — Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 11 July 2026

Companies are flattening hierarchies, as AI can automate coordination, reporting, and information relay—tasks consuming much of a manager's week. — Mark Murphy, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026

Compression packing cubes, in particular, are critical for saving space and flattening clothes as much as possible. — Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 10 July 2026

The date was chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the Tunguska impact of 1908, when an asteroid exploded over Siberia, flattening millions of trees in an 830 square mile (2,148 sq km) area. — Anthony Wood, Space.com, 26 June 2026

Here, starvation is a tool of war, one of the many tactics the militias use before flattening a town. — Janine Di Giovanni, Vanity Fair, 25 June 2026

Wilson’s achievement is to bring these meanings forward without flattening the poem’s strangeness or grandeur. — David Denby, New Yorker, 21 June 2026

Grant asks Chris about the boxing gloves now for sale in the night store, but Katie forestalls him by running over and grabbing them, nearly flattening Chris. — Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 16 June 2026

The answer to modern public life is not flattening everything into slogans or reducing politics to content. — Marc Adelman, HollywoodReporter, 16 June 2026