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# flatlined

verb (flatline, flatlines, flatlined, flatlining); noun (a flatline)

«flatlined» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. (medical slang, euphemism) died; the heart stopped, so the line on the heart monitor became flat. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flatlined/#m1)
2. (business, informal) stopped growing or changing; stayed at the same level: «sales have flatlined». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flatlined/#m2)
3. (informal) became very tired or lost all energy. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flatlined/#m3)

### In the lessons

From hospital dramas and medical slang; used in news and business talk for things that stop growing; also jokingly about people being exhausted. Informal and jargon, all regions.

### Examples

- The patient flatlined, but the doctors brought him back. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flatlined/#x1)
- In the TV drama, the heart monitor beeped and the man flatlined. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flatlined/#x2)
- Sales of the toy flatlined after Christmas. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flatlined/#x3)
- Our class's reading scores have flatlined this term. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flatlined/#x4)
- After the cross-country race, I totally flatlined on the sofa. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flatlined/#x5)
- The graph flatlined at 200 visitors a day. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flatlined/#x6)
- The phone battery flatlined halfway through the film. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flatlined/#x7)
- The company's profits have flatlined for three years. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flatlined/#x8)

### Note

Trap: in a hospital it means the heart stopped (death or near death); in business it means no growth. On a graph, a flat line means the number stays the same: no increase, no decrease.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «flatlined» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flatlined/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«flatlined» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/flatlined.html) on Mova free.