adverb

• 1Showing little interest or emotion.

  ‘“You'd better go,” she said flatly’

  More example sentences

  • ‘He said it flatly, without emotion, but a muscle ticked in one side of his jaw.’
  • ‘‘I never had any interest in lecturing,’ he says flatly.’
  • ‘The camera focuses again on the officials who continue reading at great length but flatly, bureaucratically, without interest.’
  • ‘But Ms. Newman was not laughing when she stated flatly that it was not in her interest to jump into a job like this only to get them through a bad time and to move on.’
  • ‘‘I have no memory of my mother,’ she said flatly, her voice devoid of emotion.’
  • ‘She said it flatly, a matter-of-fact statement, completely without emotion.’
  • ‘Another analyst with a keen interest in the budget for over a decade said flatly the budget statement is nonsense.’
  • ‘‘She's not interested,’ she replied flatly, picking up her cello and unlatching the case.’
  • ‘But when I asked Joel how the weather would affect the alpine moorlands, he said, flatly, ‘It is not raining.’’
  • ‘‘I was really self-destructive,’ he says flatly.’
  • ‘‘It's not my book, it's Carrie's,’ she said flatly, and turned away.’
  • ‘‘We don't have that,’ said the employee on Bleeker Street flatly, deciding it wasn't worth the time to even check his computer.’
  • ‘‘It's over,’ claims one Cabinet Minister flatly.’
  • ‘‘Don't shoot,’ he said, flatly, then looked out at a knot of junipers and some rusted machine parts sticking out of the bunch grass.’
  • ‘But a Downing Street spokeswoman said flatly: ‘We haven't made any announcement and we are not going to make any announcement.’’
  • ‘‘Pumps haven't worked since Nixon was in office,’ she said flatly.’
  • ‘‘I don't have to give you an explanation,’ she said flatly.’
  • ‘Damien answered flatly as he refilled his cup with the dark liquid from the coffee pot, ‘You obviously don't remember what happened, do you?’’
  • ‘‘As you wish,’ he replied flatly and stepped out into a spot of dim light.’
  • ‘Finally, I broke away from his level, dark blue gaze and said flatly, ‘What do you want?’’

• 2In a firm and unequivocal manner; absolutely.

  ‘they flatly refused to play’

  More example sentences

  • ‘his view seems to me flatly contrary to our evidence’
  • ‘The department would also act as underwriter for people who are flatly refused cover by private firms.’
  • ‘The law firm flatly dismisses this.’
  • ‘Many auto operators flatly refuse to go to certain places.’
  • ‘He flatly refused an offer of cut-price salmon for cash, saying: ‘Thanks but no thanks.’’
  • ‘We have thrown lots of ideas at the highways authority and they have flatly refused them all.’
  • ‘Only a few have flatly refused to go to Egypt, she said.’
  • ‘I had just flatly refused to talk to anybody for a few days but Beverly came knocking at my door.’
  • ‘My previous advisor flatly refused, and that's why I left his lab, and it's also why I have a gap in my CV.’
  • ‘A further 7% flatly refused to take their healthy snack in the first place.’
  • ‘When Gareth first asked if I wanted to give a pint, I flatly refused.’
  • ‘When he approached local experts in the city, they flatly refused.’
  • ‘She flatly refused high office, for socio-political causes meant more to her.’
  • ‘His evidence not only flatly contradicted the testimony of the other defendants, it implicated the top echelons of the football club in a conspiracy to mislead the court.’
  • ‘Nobody loves an unfeminine female who quarrels with her boss, who flatly contradicts the men around her, who insists upon the rightness of her own notions.’
  • ‘On other subjects his actions flatly contradict his words.’
  • ‘This is, however, flatly contradicted by historical review, current doctrine, and common practice.’
  • ‘All of this evidence flatly contradicted the claims that there was a wave, trend, or epidemic of school violence.’
  • ‘For the many real world victims, the realities of domestic violence flatly contradict such stereotypes.’
  • ‘These are half-truths and lies, which flatly contradict previous statements.’
  • ‘The congressman says he flatly opposes ‘privatization’.’

  Synonyms

  bluntly, directly, straight, straightforwardly, frankly, candidly, forthrightly, openly, explicitly, unequivocally, unambiguously, unmistakably, plainly, clearly, flatly, positively, certainly, decisively, categorically, outright

• 3In a smooth and even way.

  ‘I applied the paint flatly’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The 21 works shown here range in scale and medium from her signature cabinet-size egg temperas on panel to larger, flatly painted oils on canvas, which are the most recent.’
  • ‘When I first saw the show, I was most excited about the bravura Red Highrise, but on returning, I grew more intrigued with other, more flatly painted works.’
  • ‘Featuring many flatly painted coats of variously toned acrylic, Roberts' delicate grayish fields evoke shifts and gradations of dawn or evening light.’
  • ‘Sometimes the white lines ricochet in circular motions; others emanate from floating geometric forms that are pierced by flatly painted openings.’
  • ‘In this full-length picture, her toddler grandson floats against a flatly painted, baby blue field.’
  • ‘Food, jewelry and other vignettes were rather flatly painted, like signs.’
  • ‘Painter John Wesley is known for his flatly painted, cartoonish canvases of figures and animals.’
  • ‘Throughout, Baer laid the paint down flatly and evenly, and she made no effort to hide the texture of the canvas.’

  1. 3.1Photography Without marked contrast of light and dark.
     More example sentences

     • ‘the photographs were lit very flatly’