What does flatten mean?
Flatten is a versatile English verb meaning to make something flat or level — or to become so — whether through pressing, rolling, knocking down, or demolition. Its literal applications are everyday and tangible: flattening dough, cardboard boxes, or ground before construction. The verb also carries vivid figurative weight: a boxer may flatten an opponent, a bombing campaign may flatten entire city blocks, and bad news can leave a person feeling utterly flattened. Intransitively, flatten describes things settling into levelness, as when a road 'flattens out' after a climb, or when rapidly rising figures stop climbing and stabilize. Derived from the adjective 'flat', which comes from Old Norse, the verb is attested from around the seventeenth century. It gained extraordinary prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the phrase 'flatten the curve' made this unassuming workhorse verb one of the most spoken words on Earth. Few verbs move so comfortably between kitchen, battlefield, and statistics chart.
verbTo make something flat or level, or to become flat or level. Figuratively, to reduce someone or something to a state of defeat, exhaustion, or total collapse.
- To make something flat or flatter; to press or knock down until level.
- To become flat or flatter.
- To demolish or raze something completely, such as buildings leveled by explosions.
- To reduce someone to defeat, helplessness, or unconsciousness (e.g. in sport or combat).
- To decline or stagnate after growth, as with rates or prices (often 'flatten out').
"The storm flattened the wheat fields just days before harvest."
"Workers used heavy rollers to flatten the ground before laying the foundations."
"After months of rapid gains, house prices finally began to flatten out."
The word became globally famous in 2020 when epidemiologists urged the world to 'flatten the curve' — turning an ordinary verb into one of the most repeated phrases of the decade.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of flatten
Flatten derives from the adjective 'flat', formed with the Old English suffix -en used to turn adjectives into verbs (as in 'widen' and 'soften'). The adjective 'flat' itself likely entered English from Old Norse 'flatr', reflecting Scandinavian influence during the Viking era. The verb flatten has been in use since at least the early modern period, and its figurative senses — defeating opponents or leveling buildings — developed alongside its literal ones.
Related word forms
How flatten is actually used
Flatten is a common transitive verb but also works intransitively ('the road flattens out ahead'), making it flexible across physical and figurative registers. The figurative sense of flattening an opponent is informal and often hyperbolic, while 'flatten the curve' gave the word a rare statistical application. It is fully standard in both British and American English with no regional variation.
Easily confused with flatten
'Flat' is an adjective describing a surface that is level or smooth, while 'flatten' is the verb meaning to make something flat.