flatter

Formsflatters, flattering, flattered

Pluralflatters

1. 1
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To compliment someone, often insincerely and sometimes in order to win their favor.

   The new intern tried to flatter every manager in the office.

   He flattered the host all evening, angling for an invitation to the next party.

   Similarcompliment, sweet-talk, cajole, charm, praise

   Oppositeinsult, criticize, disparage

   Note

   The core verb of praise, with a fluttering past. Middle English flatteren meant "to flutter, float, fawn over," probably merging with Old English floterian, "to flutter, be disquieted." It often takes by plus an -ing form naming the method, as in Prescott's "others he flattered by asking their advice." The King James Bible of 1611 already warns that a man who flatters his neighbor "spreadeth a net for his feet."

2. 2
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To portray or present someone in a way that shows them to advantage.

   The soft evening lighting flattered every guest at the reception.

   Well-tailored suits flatter most body types.

   Similarsuit, enhance, complement, become

   Note

   Here the flatterer is usually a thing rather than a speaker: a portrait, a photograph, soft light, a good cut of cloth. In Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona, a speaker compares her own face with a picture and decides that "the painter flatter'd her a little." No intent is needed, which sets this apart from the verb of praise. The present participle works as an everyday adjective: a flattering portrait.

3. 3
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To gratify someone's vanity by praising them.

   The salesman flattered her taste until she felt like a true expert.

   Aides flatter powerful people to keep them feeling important.

   Similarpraise, compliment, gratify, indulge

   Oppositeinsult, belittle, deflate

4. 4
   adjective

   Comparative of flat.

   The landscape grew flatter the farther east we drove.

   Her front tire looked flatter than it had that morning.

   Note

   The regular comparative, built from flat plus the -er suffix, with the t doubled after the short vowel. Icelandic forms flatari the same way. It compares every sense of flat, not only the physical one: a flatter road, flatter sales, a flatter voice. The same spelling also serves the verb of praise and several nouns of unrelated origin, so only context tells them apart.

5. 5
   verbtransitive or intransitivereflexive

   To please oneself with a belief or perception, especially one that turns out to be mistaken; to congratulate oneself.

   He flattered himself that the promotion was already his.

   We flatter ourselves that our methods are the best in the field.

   Similardelude, kid, fool, congratulate

   Note

   Almost always reflexive, and usually followed by a that-clause: I flattered myself that I had done well. The construction carries a built-in irony, because what one flatters oneself about tends to prove untrue. Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis shows the less common pattern without the reflexive. There, "reviving joy" flatters her "it is Adonis' voice," so a feeling, not the person herself, does the deceiving.

6. 6
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To give someone hope, usually false, and thereby encourage them or raise their spirits.

   The recruiter flattered the graduates with promises of rapid advancement.

   Politicians flatter voters with promises they cannot keep.

   Similarlure, entice, beguile, woo, court

7. 7
   nountransitive or intransitivecountable

   A person or thing that flattens something, whether on purpose or by accident.

   In the workshop, the new flatter compressed each metal panel evenly.

   The clumsy intern proved an accidental flatter, crushing the box in transit.

   Similarflattener

   Note

   The same agent formation as the blacksmith's tool, applied to a person, and it covers accident as readily as intent. Flattener means the same thing and is usually the clearer choice, since this spelling is shared with a comparative adjective and a verb of praise.

8. 8
   nounslangBritishNew Zealandtransitive or intransitivecountable

   Someone who rents a flat, or apartment, and lives in it.

   Each flatter in the building chips in for the cleaning.

   She became a flatter in Camden after finishing university.

   Similartenant, renter

   Oppositelandlord

   Note

   Slang from Britain and New Zealand, built from flat in its "apartment" sense plus the -er that names a resident, as in villager or Londoner. It suits casual talk among people renting a place; in formal writing, tenant or resident is the safer word. Unlike the person who flattens, it says nothing about what someone does, only where they live.

9. 9
   nountransitive or intransitivecountable

   A blacksmith's set tool with a flat face, used to smooth and finish the surface of worked metal.

   The smith held the flatter against the bar and struck it level.

   A heavy flatter helped finish the broad flat sides of the blade.

   Note

   A tool named for its job. It comes from the old verb flat, "to make flat," plus the agent -er, so a flatter is literally a flattener. As a set tool it is held against the work rather than swung, and a hammer strikes it. That is how a smith brings the broad faces of a bar or blade level.

10. 10
    nountransitive or intransitivecountable

    A fulling hammer with a flat face, used to beat cloth during the fulling process.

    The fuller struck the soaked cloth repeatedly with a heavy flatter.

    Each flatter in the mill pounded the wool to felt the fibers together.

11. 11
    nountransitive or intransitivecountable

    A drawplate with a narrow, rectangular opening, used to draw metal into flat strips such as watch springs.

    The springmaker drew the steel through a flatter to get an even ribbon.

    Each flatter in the shop produced strips of a slightly different width.

    Similardrawplate

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