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Flat vs Pale - What's the difference?

flat | pale | Related terms |

In obsolete terms the difference between flat and pale

is that flat is a dull fellow; a simpleton while pale is paleness; pallor.

In intransitive terms the difference between flat and pale

is that flat is to become flat or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface while pale is to become insignificant.

As adjectives the difference between flat and pale

is that flat is having no variations in height while pale is light in color.

As nouns the difference between flat and pale

is that flat is an area of level ground while pale is paleness; pallor.

As verbs the difference between flat and pale

is that flat is to make a flat call; to call without raising while pale is to turn pale; to lose colour.

As an adverb flat

is so as to be flat.

flat

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) flat, from (etyl) Flat] in (Online Etymology Dictionary) flatr (Norwegian and Swedish flat, Danish flad), from (etyl) [http://ordnet.dk/ods/opslag?opslag=flad&submit=S%F8g Sanskrit, OHG and Greek cognates named.

Alternative forms

* , (l) (obsolete)

Adjective

(flatter)
  • Having no variations in height.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].}}
  • (of a tire or other inflated object) Deflated, especially because of a puncture.
  • (music, note) Lowered by one semitone.
  • (music) Of a note or voice, lower in pitch than it should be.
  • (music, voice) Without variations in pitch.
  • Of a carbonated drink, with all or most of its carbon dioxide having come out of solution so that the drink no longer fizzes or contains any bubbles.
  • Uninteresting.
  • * Coleridge
    • A large part of the work is, to me, very flat .
  • * Shakespeare
    • How weary, stale, flat , and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world.
  • (wine) Lacking acidity without being sweet.
  • Absolute.
  • (slang) Describing certain features, usually the breasts and/or buttocks, that are extremely small or not visible at all.
  • (of a battery) Unable to emit power; dead.
  • (juggling, of a throw) Without spin; spinless.
  • Lacking liveliness of commercial exchange and dealings; depressed; dull.
    • The market is flat .
  • (phonetics, dated, of a consonant) sonant; vocal, as distinguished from a sharp (non-sonant) consonant
  • (obsolete) Clear; unmistakable; peremptory; absolute; positive; downright.
  • * Shakespeare
    • flat burglary as ever was committed
  • * Marston
    • A great tobacco taker too, — that's flat .
    Synonyms
    * (having no variations in altitude) even, planar, plane, smooth, uniform * (deflated) deflated, punctured * (without variations in pitch) monotone * (uninteresting) boring, dull, uninteresting * flabby
    Antonyms
    * (having no variations in altitude) bumpy, cratered, hilly (of terrain), rough (of a surface), wrinkled (of a surface) * sharp * sharp
    Derived terms
    * flat as a pancake * flatcar * flat-footed * flatly * flatness * flat out * flat rate * flatten * that's flat

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • So as to be flat.
    • Spread the tablecloth flat over the table.
  • Bluntly.
    • I asked him if he wanted to marry me and he turned me down flat .
  • Not exceeding.
    • He can run a mile in four minutes flat .
  • Completely.
    • I am flat broke this month.
  • Directly; flatly.
  • * Herbert
    • Sin is flat opposite to the Almighty.
  • (finance, slang) Without allowance for accrued interest.
    • Synonyms
    * (so as to be flat) * (bluntly) bluntly, curtly * (not exceeding) tops * (completely) absolutely, completely, utterly

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An area of level ground.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a flat .
  • * , chapter=3
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats . I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}
  • (music) A note played a semitone lower than a natural, denoted by the symbol sign placed after the letter representing the note (e.g.'', B?) or in front of the note symbol (''e.g. ??).
  • (informal, automotive) A flat tyre/tire.
  • * 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
    • The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent.
  • (in the plural) A type of ladies' shoes with very low heels.
  • (painting) A thin, broad brush used in oil and watercolor/watercolour painting.
  • The part of something:
  • # (swordfighting) The side of a blade, as opposed to the sharp edge.
  • # The palm of the hand, with the adjacent part of the fingers.
  • A wide, shallow container.
  • (geometry) A subset of n-dimensional space that is congruent to a Euclidean space of lower dimension.
  • A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught.
  • A straw hat, broad-brimmed and low-crowned.
  • (US) A railroad car without a roof, and whose body is a platform without sides; a platform car or flatcar.
  • A platform on a wheel, upon which emblematic designs etc. are carried in processions.
  • (mining) A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal.
    • (Raymond)
  • (obsolete) A dull fellow; a simpleton.
  • * Holmes
    • Or if you cannnot make a speech, / Because you are a flat .
  • (technical theatre) A rectangular wooden structure covered with masonite, lauan or muslin that can be raised as a platform.
    • Antonyms
    * (note) sharp * (shoes) high heels
    Derived terms
    * mudflat

    Verb

  • (poker slang) To make a flat call; to call without .
  • To become flat or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface.
  • (intransitive, music, colloquial) To fall from the pitch.
  • (music) To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone.
  • (dated) To make flat; to flatten; to level.
  • (dated) To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress.
  • * Barrow
    • Passions are allayed, appetites are flatted .

    Etymology 2

    From 1795, alteration of (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic, New England, now chiefly British) An apartment.
    • Synonyms
    * (apartment) apartment
    Derived terms
    * block of flats * flatlet * flatmate * flatter

    References

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    pale

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl), from (etyl) pale, from (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Light in color.
  • :
  • *
  • *:“Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are'' pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling ''à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better.”
  • (lb) Having a pallor (a light color, especially due to sickness, shock, fright etc.).
  • :
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=5 citation , passage=Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.}}

    Verb

    (pal)
  • To turn pale; to lose colour.
  • * Elizabeth Browning
    • Apt to pale at a trodden worm.
  • To become insignificant.
    • 2006' New York Times ''Its financing '''pales next to the tens of billions that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will have at its disposal, ...
  • * 12 July 2012 , Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift
    • The matter of whether the world needs a fourth Ice Age movie pales beside the question of why there were three before it, but Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV cartoon, lolling around on territory that’s already been settled.
  • To make pale; to diminish the brightness of.
  • * Shakespeare
    • The glowworm shows the matin to be near, / And gins to pale his uneffectual fire.
    Derived terms
    * pale in comparison

    Noun

  • (obsolete) Paleness; pallor.
    • (Shakespeare)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl), from (etyl) pal, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A wooden stake; a picket.
  • * Mortimer
    • Deer creep through when a pale tumbles down.
  • (archaic) Fence made from wooden stake; palisade.
  • * 1615 , Ralph Hamor, A True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia , Richmond 1957, p. 13:
    • Fourthly, they shall not vpon any occasion whatsoeuer breake downe any of our pales , or come into any of our Townes or forts by any other waies, issues or ports then ordinary [...].
  • (by extension) Limits, bounds (especially before of).
  • * Milton
    • to walk the studious cloister's pale
  • * 1900 , :
    • Men so situated, beyond the pale of the honor and the law, are not to be trusted.
  • * 1919 , B. G. Jefferis and J. L. Nichols, :
    • All things considered, we advise the male reader to keep his desires in check till he is at least twenty-five, and the female not to enter the pale of wedlock until she has attained the age of twenty.
  • The bounds of morality, good behaviour or judgment in civilized company, in the phrase beyond the pale .
  • (heraldiccharge) A vertical band down the middle of a shield.
  • (archaic) A territory or defensive area within a specific boundary or under a given jurisdiction.
  • # (historical) The parts of Ireland under English jurisdiction.
  • # (historical) The territory around (Calais) under English control (from the 14th to 16th centuries).
  • #* 2009 , (Hilary Mantel), Wolf Hall , Fourth Estate 2010, p. 402:
  • He knows the fortifications – crumbling – and beyond the city walls the lands of the Pale , its woods, villages and marshes, its sluices, dykes and canals.
  • #* 2011 , Thomas Penn, Winter King , Penguin 2012, p. 73:
  • A low-lying, marshy enclave stretching eighteen miles along the coast and pushing some eight to ten miles inland, the Pale of Calais nestled between French Picardy to the west and, to the east, the imperial-dominated territories of Flanders.
  • # (historical) A portion of Russia in which Jews were permitted to live.
  • (archaic) The jurisdiction (territorial or otherwise) of an authority.
  • A cheese scoop.
    • (Simmonds)
  • A shore for bracing a timber before it is fastened.
    • (Spencer)

    Verb

    (pal)
  • To enclose with pales, or as if with pales; to encircle or encompass; to fence off.
    • [Your isle, which stands] ribbed and paled in / With rocks unscalable and roaring waters. — Shakespeare.

    Related terms

    * impale * palisade * pallescent

    Statistics

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    Anagrams

    * English terms with multiple etymologies ----