flat ‧ ten /ˈflætn/ BrE AmE verb
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ flat , ↑ flatness ; adverb : ↑ flat , ↑ flatly ; verb : ↑ flatten ; adjective : ↑ flat ]
1 . ( also flatten out ) [intransitive and transitive] to make something flat or flatter, or to become flat or flatter:
Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough.
The land flattened out as we neared the coast.
2 . [transitive] to destroy a building or town by knocking it down, bombing it etc SYN level :
Hundreds of homes were flattened by the tornado.
3 . flatten yourself against something to press your body against something:
I flattened myself against the wall.
4 . [transitive] informal to defeat someone completely and easily in a game, argument etc:
We flattened them 6–0.
5 . [transitive] informal to hit someone very hard
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THESAURUS
▪ destroy to damage something so badly that it no longer exists or cannot be used or repaired:
The earthquake almost completely destroyed the city.
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The twin towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack.
▪ devastate to damage a large area very badly and destroy many things in it:
Allied bombings in 1943 devastated the city.
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The country’s economy has been devastated by years of fighting.
▪ demolish to completely destroy a building, either deliberately or by accident:
The original 15th century house was demolished in Victorian times.
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The plane crashed into a suburb of Paris, demolishing several buildings.
▪ flatten to destroy a building or town by knocking it down, bombing it etc, so that nothing is left standing:
The town centre was flattened by a 500 lb bomb.
▪ wreck to deliberately damage something very badly, especially a room or building:
The toilets had been wrecked by vandals.
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They just wrecked the place.
▪ trash informal to deliberately destroy a lot of the things in a room, house etc:
Apparently, he trashed his hotel room while on drugs.
▪ obliterate formal to destroy a place so completely that nothing remains:
The nuclear blast obliterated most of Hiroshima.
▪ reduce something to ruins/rubble/ashes to destroy a building or town completely:
The town was reduced to rubble in the First World War.
▪ ruin to spoil something completely, so that it cannot be used or enjoyed:
Fungus may ruin the crop.
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The new houses will ruin the view.